Love Bites A Damon Love Story
by DayNap
Summary: Emma never wanted to move to Mystic Falls after her parents got divorced but, she didn't really have any other choice. Soon she finds herself befriending 2 vampires. Can she escape all this with out any problems? Find out!  Description sux, plz read  OC
1. A Mystic Greeting

Chapter 1

I never wanted to move here. I was perfectly content in my home town up north. I hate the south. It's hot and humid nearly every day and everyone eyes me with a strange look on their faces. Even now I feel alone even though I've been living here for nearly a month. I've spent every dreading moment of it cooped up in my new house.

This behavior is going to have to change, to much of my dismay. For today, this morning, I start my first day of high school in the rinky dink town of Mystic Falls. I really wish I could go back in time and stop myself from choosing to live with my mother.

Yes, my parent's are divorced. No, I'm not one of those children that milk the fact that their parents aren't living together by playing the victim act. I'm not one to allow myself to be victimized. I take things as they are and I find a way to make them work for me.

"Emma elbows off of the table please." My mother says walking up to the breakfast bar and setting a plate of eggs, toast, and bacon in front of me.

"Technically, this is not a table." I say digging right into my food.

"Yes and technically, it's not healthy that when you leave the house in the next ten minuets, it will be for the first time in a month."

"I don't know what you _want _for me to do. It's not like I know a single person in town to hang out with."

"Honey, you could have found _someone_, I'm sure of it."

"Well, they haven't exactly rolled out the welcome wagon for me either Ma!" I whine right as I hear a honk from the bus outside. "Well, here goes my first day of school in Mystic Falls."

"Good luck honey, make new friends!" She calls after me as I am rushing out of the house as to not miss my bus. I roll my eyes and throw an:

"I'll try" over my shoulder before slamming the door behind me. I look ahead at the big yellow transportation that is parked in front my new home. I watch the windows as kids stare out them at me with their noses practically pressed up against them in curiousity.

"Good morning Honey." A bus aide with sandy, totally from a box, red hair says with a warm smile. "I'm Debby. I'll be your bus aide for the remainder of this school year. Welcome to Mystic Falls."

"Hello, I'm Emma Reeves. Thank you." I plaster that fake smile of mine onto my face and cross the street with her. I hop up onto the bus with a brief hello to the driver and a grunt in return.

"That's Pete. Don't mind him. He's just a bitter old man that wants to retire so badly but his fourty-five year old son is still living with him and needs Pete to support him." A fat girl with long greasy black hair spits with enough of her own bitterness. "By the way, welcome to Mystic Falls. The _brightest_ town in _all _of Virginia!"

"Carly, that's not polite." Debby repremands her like she's her own daughter. Carly rolls her eyes and leans up against the window in boredum. "Your seat is right in the back there Emma."

"Thanks." I say uncomfortbly before charging my way through the rows of teenagers ranging from nineth to twelveth graders that are watching every move I make. I try to suppress a smile at some of the kids but, most of them are gross and creepy looking. I finally make it to the final and only empty seat. _Finally, I can get out of those scary stares._

I stare straight ahead and try to block out everything that has just happened in the last minuet. I pull out my ipod and listen to music for the entire bus ride. Once I get myself off of the bus I rush over to the front lawn and start gasping for breath. That bus smells of sweat, gasoline, and rubber.

I look up and hold my gaze at what I see; a girl with long dark brown hair and a gorgeous face. She is tall and slim. Her body is perfect. Her features are smooth and soft. Laced in her fingers are the fingers of a boy. I really good-looking boy…

He has short dark blonde hair and a ridgid jaw line. I can tell that he is muscular, even through his white muscle shirt and black leather jacket. He really is very handsom. However, he is staring at something that is not his girlfriend…me.

I scratch my head and try to find a way to look anywhere but at him. But, for some reason I can't tear my eyes from him. I watch him as he finally looks over at his girl friend and mutters something in her ear.

She looks right at me. She says something back to him before leading him with her towards me. I feel a nervous smile twitch at my face as they get closer.

"Hey!" The girl says as she finally gets a few feet from me. "I'm Elena. Are you the new girl?"

"Yeah, I'm Emma."

"I'm Stefan." The guy says as I shake Elena's hand. I shake his right after hers. "Welcome to Mystic Falls."

"I've heared that about ten billion times in the past half hour." I laugh, running my fingers through my brown hair.

"Well, I'm sorry for adding to that list." Stafan laughs with me.

"I suppose you don't want the welcome gift we got for you then." Elena sighs forlorn.

"Gift? You don't know me and you bought me a gift?"

"Yeah, we were kind of hoping that it could help us kick off a friendship."

"From both of us." Stefan adds.

"You both want to be friends with me?"

"Of course." Elena says sweetly. I smile warmly at them both as Stefan diggs out a small velvet jewlery box. I take it in my hands and stare at it. "It's not going to explode or anything. I promise." I giggle a little before opening the case and staring at the gorgeous necklace that is lieing in it.

"Oh my god!" I gasp. "I…I don't think that I can accept this…"

"No!" Stefan says in a fratic voice. He clears his throat and calms a little. "No, please do take it. We can't return it."

"Oh…" I say in a surrendering voice. "Alright then." I take the necklace out of the case and hold it up to the light. The leather chain dangles around my fingers and the charm is a metal claw which is holding in its claws a glass bead. In the very center of this bead is some type of flower or herb. There are crystals encrusted on the claw that are shimmering in the sun. "You're sure?"

"Absolutely, here let me help you put it on." Elena offers taking the piece of jewelery from my hands and unclasping the ends.

"And I suggest that you hurry." Stefan utters in a low voice that sounds like its more for Elena than for me.

"Why?"

Stefan leans in and says in an even lower voice. "Damon is here."

"What?" She looks around and her eyes stop at one person. "Why is he here? Him and Caroline broke up. Bonnie hates him…I don't get it."

"Who's damon?" I ask looking over my shoulder at Elena.

"I am." A low sexy voice coos. It sounds relatively close. I turn my head to face a man that is inches from my face. Elena wraps that necklace around my neck so fast that it gags me.

"Ow!" I whine as she hooks the clasp and lets the charm fall right above my cleavage. The man identified as Damon stares at me hard and sighs.

"I see how this is…" He's staring at me, but is talking to Stefan.

"How what is? I've known you two for less than a minuet and I'm already confused." I state in frustration. "So, there is another person to meet and become friends with then?"

"Yes." The very hott guy that has been identified as Damon answers right as Elena and Stefan shout "NO!"

"Um…okay then…"

"Let's go Emma. We should get out of here. Stefan needs to have a little talk with Damon." Elena says, placing a comforting hand on the small of my back and leading me away from the two guys and towards the school. Once we are a few feet away from the guys I turn to Elena.

"What's going on with-?"

"Ssssshhhhh!" She cuts me off quickly. "I'll explain in a minuet. First, let's get you settled into your locker."

"Uh, alright…" I say looking over my shoulder at Damon. His eyes find my gaze and our eyes lock. He smiles crookedly and waves to me. I feel an involutary smile stretch onto my face and before I can stop myself, I wave back. I whip around once my mind has caught up to all of this. Elena and Stefan got me away from Damon really fast. There must be a reason for it. But, why? He didn't seem that mean at all and he's totally gorgeous! Is it Elena's ex-boyfriend or Stefan's rival in school? It just doesn't make any sense. Something is up with all three of them for sure.

"Emma, I know all of this seems really bizarre to you this time around. But I promise you an explination as soon as I know it's safe."

"Now, is that anyway to speak about me when I'm walking right behind you?" I hear the sweet, seductive voice that could only belong to one person.

"Damon, what in the world are you doing here?" Elena turns on her heals and crosses her arms across her chest. "You're too old to still be in high school."

"So is my brother." Damon looks up at Stefan with teasing eyes. Stefan stares back at him with such intensity that is makes my spine chill.

"Woah, you too are brothers?" I finally register. "I thought you two kind of looked alike."

"I'm a senior." Stefan reassures me. "Damon likes to tell lies."

"Yes, _I'm _the liar." Damon chuckles.

"You should go. The bell will be ringing soon. Goodbye Damon."

"And miss all the fun of greeting the newest arrival in town? Never." Damon says almost as if he's taunting them.

"Go!" Elena says taking my wrist and rushing me from the scene.

"I'll get rid of him. You go." Stefan nods his head to us and Elena races us down the hall.

"I'm _so _lost right now." I stare at her worried expression.

"Your explanation will come-."

"When I'm safe, I know." I finish her sentence for her. She smiles warmly over at me.

"Right. Unfortunately, I don't know when that will be."

"Why? Is Damon dangerous?"

"More than you know."


	2. Strange Behavior

Chapter 2

"What's going on? Is it safe enough now to be able to tell me what's going on?" I ask as I carry my bagged lunch side by side with Elena and Stefan to a picnic table for lunch. I'm a sophmore and Elena and Stefan are both seniors so I didn't have any classes with either of them. I had a really hard time focusing on any of my classes anyways. Everytime I attempted to focus on what the teacher was explaining, my mind would begin to wander…to Damon.

I barely know him, so why am I so transfixed on him? Was it how he was _so _unwilling to listen to Stefan and Elena? Or maybe it was his immediate interest in me. Perhapse it could be that he may be possibly the hottest, sexiest man I've ever laid my eyes upon. _Oh!_ And his eyes! Those eyes; how they are this amazing dark, stormy, mysterious, blue. When you look into them, you feel like you're just going to fall right into them and you'll just keep on falling, forever.

"Emma!" I hear Elena's voice shout at me. I snap back to attention.

"Sorry. I was…day dreaming, you could say." I look over at Stefan's worried expression. "I'm fine. Really, I am!"

"So, do you or don't you want an explination for our strange behavior or what?"

"That would be correct."

"What do you think Stefan? Is it safe to tell her yet? Are we going to tell her at all?" Elena looks over to Stefan for help. He looks at her, telling her something with his eyes. She looks back over to me with an almost immediate understanding.

"We're just nervous for your safety." Stefan explains. It's now my turn to look worried. "It's mainly my brother. He's a bit irresponsible and we don't want to see you get hurt."

"That's so sweet! Thanks guys!" I say as I begin eating my bagged lunch. "So, my birthday is next weekend. Would you guys like to come to my party?"

"Where is it going to be held?"

"My house of course."

"I don't think that I'll be able to attend." Stefan looks down at his food and stabs at his salad with his fork.

"Please? You and Elena are my only friends here at the moment."

"Elena can go, but…I just can't."

"Come on Stefan! You can even bring Damon with you!"

"No, I'm not letting him anywhere near your party."

"Look, my mom is a whack job. If I don't have more than one person at my party next Friday, she will explode. Then I'll have to clean it off of the walls; wich I really do not want to do. If you don't come, I _am _inviting Damon."

A weary smile finds its way to his lips. He seems quite reluctant to answer me. I don't get the big deal. It's just a sixteenth birthday party at my new home. Nothing too extravagant. This seems not the veiw that Stefan sees. His expression is of someone who is weighing their options. "Alright, I'll go." He finally says. A huge smile stretches onto my face as the words leave his mouth.

"Thank you Stefan!" I bat my eyelashes jokingly. He smiles at me before continueing to eat his lunch in silence.

"Hi! Hi!" The overly perky voice of Caroline cheers bouncing into the seat right across from me. "How's your first day at Mystic Falls High school been?" I sigh and internally roll my eyes.

"Great. I've learned absolutely nothing all day." I admit as I sip at my juice box.

"Really? I saw your scheadual and you had all of the best tenth grade teachers. Why were you so bored in your classes?" She asks leaning over the table at me.

"No reason." I lie standing up and walking toward the trash cans. Elena and Caroline follow me. "I guess I was just too tired to pay attention."

"Uh huh." Elena says like she isn't quite buying it. I throw away my trash and walk back to my seat. This time Caroline takes Elena's old place right next to me and Elena sits next to Stefan.

"What's his name?" Caroline says right away.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"It's not Stefan, is it?" Elena blurts with a voice full of worry.

"No, don't worry. I'm not after your man." I say, I smile politely in Stefan's direction. "I'm not after anyone." I throw in the lie.

"Did you meet him your math class?" Caroline asks now brain storming. "Or is it a teacher? Ooh! Is that why you won't tell us who it is?"

"Why do you assume that there is a guy involved?" I ask in a defensive tone. Stefan looks up at me with his green eyes peeking out at me through his long eyelashes. He focus' hard on me and I watch his pupils dialate big to small over and over again.

A warm smokey haze fills my mind, making it hard to think.

"Stefan…" I hear Elena's worried voice. "Her necklace…"

"It's not working." He says not moving his dialating eyes from me. "I don't get why though."

"What necklace?" Caroline asks searching my neckline for any sort of jewerly. Everyone else at the table's eyes follow her gaze to my bare neck.

"Why aren't you wearing the necklace that we got you?" Stefan asks with frustration clear in his voice. There is a strain also in his voice that sounds almost as if he is trying hard to be able to talk.

"I had to take it off for gym class. I forgot to put it back on." I offer up automatically, fighting through the fog and confusion in my brain.

"Put it back on." Stefan commands me nicely. I automatically reach into the pocket of my bag and take out the necklace. I put it on and right as I let the charm bounce against my chest the mist is gone. I shake my head from the sudden change. My ears start ringing and I go light headed.

"Are you alright?" Caroline puts a comforting hand on my back as I hold my forehead and set my elbows on the table.

"Yeah, it's just my head. I'm a little dizzy." I mumble. I rub my temples in order to make the uneasiness go away. I look up at Stefan who is mimicking my actions. "Stefan, are _you _alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." He picks his head up and is suddenly fine.

"Your eyes," I plainly state. He looks at me now more alert than before. "They were dialating like crazy. How did you do that?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." He says not making eye contact with me. He _always _tries to make eye contact with me.

"You guys saw it too right?" I turn to Elena and Caroline for their support. They look at eachother before looking down just as Stefan had. "I know what I saw!" They all continue to nibble at their food in silence. I stand up and make my way to a different table without making a sound.

"Emma, come back!" A voice calls after me. I roll my eyes. _Shut the fuck up Caroline!_ I spot a table that is located next to a big shady tree. I hurry over to it before another group of kids that are late for lunch snag it. I flop down at the table and notice that at the center of the table is perched the prettiest crow I have ever seen.

Though the bird is the classic black that every crow is, there is something very unique about this bird. The sunlight that filters through the leaves of the tree over head bounces off of the bird's feathers, desplaying a rainbow of colors.

"Hey there little guy." I say smiling. I love animals of all kinds, even creepy birds that sit around waiting for someone to drop a piece of their food for them to eat.

"Emma, get away from there!" I here Elena scream her voice frantic now. I look up at her with a crease in my forehead.

"Some people really need to chill out." I say to the bird that is hopping towards me in curiosity. I've never seen a wild bird this friendly before. I hold out my hand and let it rub its head against my palm. The feathers are soft, like rabbit fur. "You are so cute." The bird makes a quiet, content 'Caw.'

The next second and a half comes as a blur. All I know for sure is that Stefan somehow got over here so quickly and quietly that I didn't see him coming, he shooed the bird away, and slammed my back against the tree with a firm grip on my wrists.

"Ow!" I yelp in annoyence. "Get off of me Stefan!" He looks me square in the face.

"You really don't understand Emma." Stefan says with an exasperated voice.

"Yeah, I understand that you and the rest of your friends are acting like a bunch of freaks." I say shaking Stefan's hands from my wrists. "Until you can give me an explination, stay away from me." I walk around Stefan and head straight into the school for the final three class periods of the school day.

I take a couple of deep breaths right as I walk through the doorway of the school from the courtyard. 'Okay, you've managed to gain and lose your new friends within four hours. That has to be a record_.' _I think to myself as I pace back and forth. 'Maybe I should apologize for my behavior_. _They were only thinking of my safety after all. But, what about that thing that Stefan did with his eyes. That really was very creepy.'

"Emma." I hear Stefan's voice behind me. I jump in fright before turning to face him. "Sorry, I didn't mean to sneak up on you."

"It's okay." I say running my fingers through my shoulder length chocolate brown hair. "Are you gunna let me in on what's going on here?"

Stefan stares at me hard in the face. He wants to tell me what's up. I can tell by his body language. But, there seems to be something that's holding it inside of him. "No, not yet."

"Will you _ever_?"

"Maybe, if it has to come to it depending on someone's safety.

"'Maybe' isn't my favorite answer." I smile at him while taking a few swingy steps in his direction. He smiles back at me. I don't know why there are people who don't like this guy. He's nice, smart, considerate, totally hott, and a gentleman. I really like Elena too but, she had better watch out! It seems as though I am forming quite a kiddy-crush on her man. Not that I'd ever stab her in the back like that.

"Is everything okay?" I hear Elena's voice peeps in through the door Stefan and I had to go through to get back into the school. I take a few steps back from Stefan instinctively. The last thing I want is Elena thinking that I'm trying to steal Stefan from her.

"I think it will be." I sigh in a surrendering manner. "I'm sorry for running off like that and giving you guys a scare."

"No need to apologize Em." Elena says warmly. I like the way she just shortened my name down to 'Em.' It makes me feel more like Im becoming a good friend of hers now. "We're the ones that are acting strange. Even stranger than normal."

"If that's even possible." Stefan adds humorously. I chuckle at them and shake my head.

"It's fine guys." I lie. The warning bell for students eating lunch in the courtyard rings loudly, to which Elena and I both surpress a groan in unison.

"I really do not want to go to my last three classes." Elena moans as a vast crowd of full, now energized teens flood through the glass courtyard door and filter around us.

"I would agree to ditching for the rest of the day but, it's Emma's first day at Mystic Falls high school and I don't want her to start things off on the wrong foot with her teachers."

"I have two study halls and band." I point out. "I don't have my flute with me either so I can't play anyways."

"Yeah, she can't play anyways Stefan!" Elena repeats my words, rushing to his side and gripping his arm pleadingly. "Honey, can we _please _blow school off for the rest of today?" Stefan sighs and rubbs the back of his neck, on the breaking point. "For me?"

"Fine, I'll go…_talk_ to the attendance woman." Stefan says quickly rushing to the office.

"What is he going to do?" I ask following Elena's gaze after her boyfriend. She smiles widely as she turns to me.

"He's going to _convince_ Mrs. Rudger to put us into the computer as being in class even though we won't be. That way we won't get caught."

"How's he gunna do that?" I scrunch my eyebrows in as I look up at her.

"He's a very convincing person when he wants to be. Much like at lunch today with your necklace."

I nod my head in understanding. Stefan walks out of the office, looking a little dizzy. Like when he was in the office he had spun himself in circles really fast before trying to leave. I rush over to him with Elena in concern.

"Are you alright?" We ask together. Elena and I look up into eachothers eyes before laughing lightly at how alike or minds seem to be.

"I'm fine. I just need to sit down for a moment."

"Okay." I say trying to tug him towards a hallway bench. Neither of them budge even a little. "What?"

"If we stop to sit now we'll get caught. He's going to have to wait until we get into his car." She explains as the three of us walk out the front door of the school and into the student parking lot. Elena points to a black covertable in the front of the parking lot. We rush to the car swiftly. We all hop in. I'm in the back seat, Elena's in the passanger seat, and Stefan's in the diver's seat.

"Is he in any condition to be driving us anywhere?" I ask staring at his spinning head.

"Trust me, he could be on his death bed and he'd be a better driver than me." Elena laughs at some inward joke that I haven't been let in on yet. I nod my head slowly, like I understand, but I really don't.

"Alright, I'm ready. Let's go." Stefan says sitting up in his seat, suddenly feeling much better. Just as he had acted at lunch today after he did that weird eye thing…interesting… "I live in the shut down boarding house at the center of town." He explains looking at me through the rear view mirror as he pulls out onto the road. I nod my head in pretend understanding again.

A boarding house? He sounds like an OLD man, not a seventeen year old boy! Why doesn't he just call it a motel? Aren't thoughs the same thing? Either way, it's weird to hear him say that word.

"We renavated it a tad bit though. So, it no longer looks like a boarding house." He continues.

"Yeah, now it's as luxiurious as any estate or mannor." Elena says in a flirty voice, leaning in and kissing Stefan right smack on the mouth. Stefan kisses her back with a longing that could only belong to thoughs who are most definitely in love. I marvel at them like their kiss is part of a movie that is being played out for me. I watch him lift one of his hands away from the steering wheel and hold her face in his hand.

It's then that I realize that Stefan in driving the car with one hand, his eyes off of the road, and at an incredibly fast speed. "STEFAN! THE ROAD!" I screech in terror. I curl up into a ball and slam my eyes shut. The car decelerates to the speed limit and I sit up. Stefan is back to driving without a trace of his and Elena's kiss happening, besides the adorable goofy smile on his face.

"Sorry…" He mumbles through his smile. He's acting like a little boy whose has just been caught with his hand in the cookie jar before dinner, only he got to still eat the cookie. I stare out the window in astonishment as Stefan pulls up to a _huge _building.

"_This _is your house?"

"Uh huh." He says getting out and opening both our doors like the gentleman that he is. "I know it's a bit much but you get used to it after a while." I slowly approach the historic-looking building. It's actually kind of…intimidating… "Are you alright Emma?"

"Do you know that I've been asked that more times today than I think I have in my entire life?" I say with a giggle. Stefan smiles, takes Elena's hand, and they lead the way into the house. I notice something move in one of the large upstairs windows. Stefan's father maybe_…_ "Is your father home?"

"No, I live on my own…well and my brother. Why?"

"Because I…" Will they believe me anyway if I try to tell them_? _"…I just wanted to meet him is all."

"Oh, well it's just me and Damon."

Does he know that either Damon's home right now or someone broke ito their house?I shrug it off as we walk into the Salvatore boarding house.


	3. House Guest

Chapter 3

"Bonnie, are you sure?" Elena asks pacing in the living room like a maniac. "If that's true than that would mean that your aunt…" Elena's eyes shoot over to Stefan, practically bugging out of her head. "Yeah, I'll be right over."

Elena's closest friend, Bonnie, had called. Bonnie didn't go to school today for some reason. We all assumed that she is just sick but, based upon Elena's reactions to Bonnie's message this appears to not be the case. "I'm going to Bonnie's house. I'll call you when I'm done." She says to Stefan, rushing over to collect a kiss from his lips.

"You're free to stay if you'd like Emma." Stefan says kindly. I smile and nod.

"If you don't mind. I don't really have anywhere else to go. My mother doesn't unlock the house until three."

"Of course. I'm just going to go into the kitchen and fetch us something to drink. Any requests?"

"I don't care."

"Oh come on." Stefan smiles at me and folds his arms across his chest. "You're making this harder than it has to be. What if I grab you some forgein soda that tastes wretched to you?"

"Okay, okay. Just a coke will suffice." I say smiling lightly. He nods and walks out of the room down a hall. I sigh and look around the huge room in curiousity. There are paintings all over the place. They are all so intricately done. I find myself tip toeing my way over to one to examine it closer. The painting is dated from the late eighteen hundreds. It probably costs a fortune and was extremely hard to aquire.

The painting is of a gorgeous landscape, a lake at night. The starry sky seems to sparkle on the canvas even though it is just paint. The fog looks as though it is swirling over the grass even though the picture is not moving at all. Whoever painted it was an amazing painter!

"That one is my favorite." Someone says behind me. I jump and whirl around. Damon is standing about ten feet from me, a cocky chagrin on his face. I sigh and hold my chest.

"You snuck up on me." I sigh running my fingers through my hair.

"Sorry." He chuckles. "I tend to do that a lot, huh?"

"Yeah…" I say uncomforably. Stefan and Elena both told me to stay away from Damon, that he is dangerous. That he shouldn't be trusted. He seems friendly enough though….

"So, I see you were attrached to this painting. Why?"

"The painter…" I say looking back at it. "…the way he or she painted it. It's magical…"

"Thanks." He says smiling up at it proudly.

"Why are you thanking me?" I ask looking at him confused. "It's not like you painted it. It is dated from the eighteen hundreds."

"Yes, of course." He chuckles. "So, are you Stefan's new girlfriend?"

"I'm sorry, what?"

"I believe I made myself quite clear."

"No, no! Of course not! I…he…Elena…we…" I frantically scramble for my words. Damon tilts his head at me in amusement. Is he just doing this to fluster me? "You're a jerk."

"Excuse me?" Damon says as I walk passed him, back to the couch. "Now, what did I do to make you accuse me of that?" The tone making it clear that he knows very well why I called him that.

"I got you a…" Stefan starts to say as he walks into the room. Once his gaze falls upon Damon he stops what he was doing.

"Hello brother. What ever are you doing home at this early hour? Isn't school still in session?"

"Damon. I didn't realize you were home."

"Of course you didn't" He laughs. "Otherwise you wouldn't be here and you certaintly wouldn't be here with her." Damon looks over at me. Damon and Stefan stare down eachother for a few seconds.

"Could I talk to you, in the kitchen please?"

"Why, of course Stefan!" Damon says with thick sarcasm. "We'll be right back." He bows a little like a gentleman in the ninetinth century.

"No, hopefully he won't be." Stefan says with an exasperated eyeroll. I nod my head, and for the third time today, pretend to understand. They walk off down the hall together. I wait a few seconds before riseing up from my seat and following the sound of their voices. I come to a doorway that leads into the kitchen. I press my back against the wall and listen intently on what they are saying.

"Damon, she is not just another toy that you can play with!"

"And why would that be brother? Does Elena have something to worry about?"

"This has NOTHING to do with Elena!" Stefan snarls in a vicous voice. Stefan clears his throat and continues his lecture in a calmer voice. "You and I both know why it is important that you stay away from this girl. Don't pretend for even a second that you don't know."

"Know what?" Damon says with a cocky sarcasm that sounds natural to his character. "All I'm saying is that you care a little too much considering that you just meet her today." The sarcasm leaves his voice. A new expression comes up, reprimanding. "You don't want to be the next Katherine, do you?"

"I'm NEVER going to be the next Katherine and don't you DARE ever campare me to her again!" Stefan snaps in a scary voice. "Just leave Emma alone Damon, alright?"

"Fine." Damon's usual sarcastic slur is back.

"I mean it Damon."

"I know you do, chill out." He walks out of the kitchen and continues down the hall without glancing or pausing in realization that I am standing here. Maybe he didn't notice that I am here. "And make sure your snoop's away from the door before you give me a lecture." He calls down the hall.

I clench in shame. Boy he's good. Stefan walks out of the kitchen and spots me standing right there. He smiles weakly and leads me back into the living room. "Please excuse Damon. He's a major wise alloc."

"It's okay. Are you okay? You sounded really upset."

"Yeah I'm fine. Damon just knows exactly what to say to really get under my skin. One of his many dangerous talents."

"Oh, I see." I look down at my hands. What else is there to say? I barely know this kid. This kid barely knows me. Jeez, this is exteremly awquard… "So…are you still coming to my party Saturday?"

"Of course."

"Good, good…" another long silence follows.

"So, I saw that you rode the bus this morning."

"Oh, yeah." I laugh at the horrid memory. We walk together back into the living room and we pick up the two glasses that Stefan set down. We take our seats on the couch and begin sipping at our sodas. "Please, don't remind me."

"If you'd like, maybe Elena and I can give you a ride to school tomorrow."

"Oh, so you guys do go to school?" I tease. He smiles at me with an interesting smile, one I haven't ever seen him use on me.

"Yes, indeed. I do not normally allow the skipping of school. But, under the circumstaces I suppose it was mandatory."

"A.k.a Elena wanted to."

"Exactly." He says sipping down the rest of his drink in one long swig. Then he does it again. He looks at me with that same smile on his face. I've seen him look at only one other person like this for the couple hours that I've known him. Elena.

Why is he giving me flirty looks like that? Shouldn't he be saving those for the girl whom he loves? I'm certaintly not her. "How long have you guys been dating?"

"A few months now. I really love her." He says going off into a dream-like state. A smile twitches at his lips. This proves me way wrong. No matter any way he may have been looking at me, it is nothing compared to this look. It also doesn't compete with the one that he gave her in the car.

"I think that's great." I sigh in contentment.

"Have you ever been in love?"

"No…" I admit sheepishly. "I thought I was once but, turns out I was just being silly. You know, how teenagers think their in love when they're not? That was the case with me."

"I'm so sorry. Not to be nosey but, what happened?"

"I don't like to think about it, let alone talk about it." I say my voice shaking, on the verge of tears.

"Oh! I'm really sorry Emma! I didn't mean to upset you." Stefan wraps his strong arms around me in sympathy. I dig my nearly crying eyes into the fabric of his shirt on the shoulder. I move my head so that my jaw is lying over his shoulder. I look across the room and in the doorway that leads towards the staircase, is standing Damon. His arms crossed and a smirk on his face with a look that can only be described as mischeivous.

"Damon." I say in a soft voice that I only want Stefan to hear. He pulls out of the hug and looks over his shoulder at Damon.

"I thought I told you to leave!"

"I thought I told you to not be the next Katherine." He spits back. Stefan jumps up and lungs across the room at Damon.

"Guys!" I shout in instant fear. Damon receives Stefan and throws him to the ground. Loud growling noises emerge from their throats. I jump up and rush to their sides in a desperate attempt to break up their fight. I gasp at the sight of Damon's hand holding Stefan down by his neck! His NECK! I'm starting to get what they meant by him being dangerous! He's a freakin psychopath! "Damon! Let go of Stefan's neck right this moment!" I feel a maternal voice boom. The both pause and look up at me. "Eep!" I jump back a little at the sight of his eyes.

They are the same dark, beautiful color but, now there are dark veins branching from them. Damon whips his head back down and he shakes his head. He stares down at Stefan but I cannot see his face. He looks over his shoulder at me slightly and before my mind can register what's happening, Damon is behind me, holding one of my wrists in one hand and his arm wraps around my neck so that my body is pressed against his rock hard chest.

"Stefan…" I gasp, breathing becoming a harder task. I squirm in Damon's grip but his arms don't falter in the slightest. Stefan slowly sits up and his eyes grow huge at what he sees.

"Damon…" His voice is full of caution. The way he's reacting is as if he makes too sudden of a movement then Damon may do something stupid… "Come on. Don't be playing this game. She's just an innocient girl." Girl? Ouch!

"I may be younger than both of you but I am fifteen! Not a girl!" I manage to say, forgetting the current situation. I feel Damon chuckle at my comment before dragging me towards the stairs. I try with all my might to get away from him but I can't seem to find enough strength.

"Stop struggling Emma." Damon murmers into my ear. I close my eyes and try to sweep how good the feeling of his lips near my ear feels to the back of my mind. "I don't want to hurt you."

"Your lieing." I say as I continue my fighting. Damon sighs and picks my feet up off the ground. "Damon! Set me down! Let me go! STEFAN! HELP ME!" Damon chuckles again as if I just made another witty comment.

"Stefan? Get you from me? Yeah right." He laughs as we make it to his bedroom door. Many pictures of ways that this can end begin to fill my mind. My adrenaline kicks into hyperdrive and I flop around in his arms like a fish. I actually feel his hold on me shake and hope pushes me to get away. "Woah!" He says gripping my waist hard and shoving me into his room and slamming the door behind him. "You actually almost got away from me there. You're much stronger than you look."

"Get away from me!" I scream as I search the room for an easy escape. The window. Damon, seeing the same thing, rushes over there and breaks the lock so that it's stuck in the locked position. I feel my heart start to beat as fast as a humming bird.

"Chill out. I'm just trying to freak Stefan out Emma." He says rolling his eyes at me. I squint my eyes at him, trying to decide if I should buy into this.

"I don't believe that!" I say running over to the window and shaking at them nervously. It's obvious that they aren't opening but I keep shaking anyways. Damon runs over and rips me away from the window and throws me onto the bed. The metal handle of the broken window lock scratching my hand. "Shit." I mutter, watching a little blood ooze from the cut. I look up at Damon to scream at him but, he's gone…


	4. An Accident

Chapter 4

"It was really bizzare." I say popping another chip into my mouth with a loud "crunch!"

"That is quite the day." My mother says wiping her hands on her apron. "So, you like this Stefan boy?"

"Right."

"But, he has a girlfriend?"

"Right."

"And his girlfriend is Elena."

"Right."

"And this Elena girl is really nice so you want her to become your new best friend."

"Exactly."

"Well, that's not going to lead to any problems or anything." She retorts sarcastically before whipping the apron off and revealing her buisness suite. "If you can manage to not screw up with this whole 'crush on your new best friend's boyfriend thing', do you think you could get her parents to allow you to stay with her next week?"

"You're already going away on another buisness trip?"

"Honey, I have to pay the bills and without your father's pay check I need to take up as many bonus offers as possible."

"Isn't Dad supposed to be paying child support or something?"

"Yeah, but I only get one every month and it goes towards our bills." She says grabbing the lunch she just packed herself. "Have a nice second day of school dear."

"Thanks. Bye." I say as she kisses me on the cheek hurriedly before racing out the door to our garage. I sigh and look over to the fridge. She didn't pack me my own luch, did she? I grab an empty brown paper bag and begin digging through the cuboards. I reach for something when a loud "BEEP!" erupts through the foggy morning air.

"EMMA!" I hear Elena's voice in the distance. I sigh and walk right out the door without a lunch.

"Hey guys!" I cheer right as I walk out the door. I rush over to the SUV and hop right into the back. "Good morning."

"Morning Emma." Stefan says with a smirk on his face.

"What is it?"

"Nothing." Elena says pursing her lips together to keep herself from laughing.

"I'm not that funny looking am I?" I joke.

"No, you look great." Stefan makes eye contact with me in the rear veiw mirror. "You look perfect actually."

I glance over at Elena, waiting for her to go into protective girlfriend mode but… nothing. Not a single "Stefan!" or "Excuse me?" or even a "Stefan, are you cheating on me with Emma?"

"What's going on?"

"We…um…you see…" Stefan starts clearing his throat nervously.

"We're not going to school!"

"What?" I sreech in surprise.

"The teachers went on strike for some strange reason…" Elena giggles. She and Stefan make eye contact before they both burst out in outright laughter.

"I don't really understand the joke in that." I state confused.

"It's just that Stefan he…" Elena starts to explain before Stefan stops laughing and looks right at her with reprimandment. "…He farted before you got in the car."

"Um…oh?" I look out the window. How immature can these two be?

"Thanks a lot Elena." Stefan mutters jokingly.

"Sorry." She laughs. "So, I am taking my younger brother Jeremy out to the free clinic to get him help with this newly found desire to smoke pot, get drunk, and cut himself."

"Oh, wow…" I say at a loss of words. How do I react to that? "That's pretty intense."

"Yeah I know but, it will be totally worth it in the long run."

"Definitely." I agree with her. She smiles as we pull into a driveway. The house is medium size but looks very beautiful.

"This is my stop. I'll see you two later." Elena says quickly leaning in to get a quick kiss. Stefan holds her head there so he can get more than just a quick peck. "I love you."

"I love you too Elena. Call me when you're done with this session."

"No problem." She climbs out of the car. "Bye Emma."

"Bye…" I watch Elena walk into her house as Stefan pulls out and starts to drive away.

"So, what do you want to do Emma? We have the entire day to ourselves."

"SHIT!" I curse and Stefan slams on the breaks, causing me to fly forward due to me not wearing a seatbelt. I bash my head against the middle compartment, causing a small line of blood to trickle down my foorhead. "Ow!"

"Oh my God!" Stefan croaks with much strain in his voice. "I need to get out of the car!"

"Stefan, its okay-"

"No, you don't understand! I need to get away from here right now!" He flings the door open and I blink my eye once and he's gone. I shake my head in confusion as the cars behind Stefan's begin to honk their horns at me in annoyence. I open the middle compartment and find a napkin in there. I apply pressure to it as I search the area around the car for Stefan but it seems that he has fled the scene. Once the bleeding stops I throw it out the window. I know that litering is wrong but, I'm in a pretty bad situation right now. "I'm back."

"Stefan?" I ask blinking over at him now sitting in the driver's seat that was empty not that long ago.

"Yeah." He begins to drive again like nothing had just happened. "So, I say we go over to my house again."

"I don't know that didn't work out all of too well last time."

"Very true, what do you want to do?"

"Would you mind if we visited that Battle of Willowcreek battle field?"

"What?"

"I know it's weird but, I really like history things. I know for a fact that this town has historic rememberance for the Battle of Willow Creek."

"You like history too?"

"I absolutely love it." I gush with a wide smile. He smiles back and turns down the road that leads to the battle field.

"I know this field so well; sometimes it's almost as if I fought on it myself." He says in a mysterious tone.

"Really? I feel that way sometimes too! Almost as if I were someone else that lived here in a past life or something."

"I thought you were Christian."

"I am." I scrunch my eyebrows at him.

"Well, isn't reincarnation a Buddist belief?"

"Yeah and Hindu as well." I say as we both hop out of the car. "But, sometimes I just get this feeling that I belonged to another era."

"I've felt like that before." He chuckles. I smile and look over at him as we walk over to the statues that are all around the rebuilt church.

"They made an exact replica of this church. It cannot be the actual one because in it they burned-"

"Thousands of innocient civilians, I know." As the words leave my mouth he looks at me with the most glorious smile I have ever seen.

"You really know your stuff."

"It's my absolute favorite subject in school." I say staring up at him. His eyes are so beautiful. They are warm and inviting. They make me feel accepted and safe. Like I could do anything and they wouldn't judge me. We both snap out of our gazing and I dig my digital camera out of my pocket. "Let's go have a photoshoot with some statues in a rebuilt church."

"I'm up for that." He smiles taking the camera out of my hands. We run around for hours at the memorial park taking pictures at everything. This memorial battle ground site is so good! "Do you want to go inside?"

"Duh!" I laugh grabbing his hand and sprinting into the building. The doors we walk through open up into a large sanctuary that is absolutely amazing! The windows are all beautiful stained glass and the pews are all cherry wood with nativity scenes carved into them. "Did you know that they had the guy who originally carved the pew's ancestor carve these by hand just as his great grandfather had because they wanted it to be as close to the original as possible."

"Really? I did not know that." Stefan says with shock that I knew something that he didn't.

"Yeah, the guy who did them's name is Peter Rynsford."

"Peter Rynsford huh?" Stefan sighs while sitting down in one of the pews. I nod my head and sit down next to him.

"Yup." I look over at his troubled face. "What's wrong?" He doesn't answer me, he just continues to stare at the ground. I reach over and place my hand over his. I see a sudden flash of light and suddenly, there are people everywhere!

"Damon!" A man whom I've never seen before whispers at a young boy, who looks exactly like Damon except he is dressed like he is from the time that this church was actually open still. "Sit down, the Minister is about to start the service." Damon rolls his eyes and sits down next to me. He looks directly at me and smiles.

"Can you believe Dad? He's just upset because I have been talking with Katherine a lot. I think he may be suspicous of our behavior."

"You know that I don't like it when you bring her up Damon." A voice that doesn't belong to me says, but the sound is coming from me.

"It's not my fault that you didn't bring Katherine into your bed last night after the Founder's day ball. You could have, you brought her to her door and gave her a cute little kiss on the cheek. You should have known that she wanted more than that."

"Damon, this isn't funny!" A voice that sounds suspicously like Stefan's, booms from my mouth. "I'll be right back." I jump up involuntarily and rush into the men's bathroom which wasn't much like modern day restrooms let me tell you. "You're alright. Just ignore him." I tell myself. I look up into the mirror and I look exactly like Stefan! Only he, just like Damon, is dressed like he's from the eighteen-hundreds! I sigh and walk back to my seat next to Damon calmly right as the Minister begins to talk.

I jolt my hand way from Stefan's and gasp. "What the hell was that?" I burst in shock.

"I…I have no idea." Stefan says looking over at me with the same expression. I stand up and begin to rush away from him when he grabs my wrist and restrains me from walk any farther than arms length. "Wait, don't leave. It's lunch time. Do you want to go to a restraunt or something?"

"No, I'm fine." I say sighing and walking out of the church at a slower pace. Stefan releases my hand and follows close behind. I smile over at the field that we were just running around, playing in not that long ago.

"Why did you suddenly curse this morning after we left Elena's?"

"Oh, my mom is going away after dropping me off at school Monday. I was supposed to ask Elena if I could stay at her house."

"Oh."

"But, I guess I'll just stay home alone. It's only for a few days right?"

"No, why don't you just stay with me at my house?"

"That may turn out just a little awkard." I say smiling a sweet smile. "But thanks for the offer."

"Anytime." He smiles happily. "So…TAG YOU'RE IT!" He shoves my shoulder and begins sprinting at a very fast speed out into the battle grounds. I laugh and begin to chase him but, have little luck catching him. I smirk to myself as I suddenly collapse onto the ground.

"OUCH!" I groan. "My ankle! I think I may have sprained it." Stefan rushes to my side and kneals down next to me.

"Emma, it'll be okay I'll just carry you to the car and we'll-"

"Tag you're it!" I laugh, suddenly being able to jump up and sprint away from him.

"Hey! You're a cheater!"

"Yes, I am!" I yell to the skies. Stefan takes me head on and football tackles me to the ground.

"Gottcha!" He seethes looking down at me. I laugh and stare straight up at him. Our chests are rising and falling in perfect rhythm. Mine goes up, his goes down. His expression of joy changes and it becomes very serious. Stefan begins to lean down towards me, staring at his target, my lips.

"Stefan we…" I whisper out of breath still.

"Ssssshhhh." He cuts me off as he gets closer and closer to me. Instead of continueing to try and stop him or reminding him of his girlfriend, whom he has claimed to really love, I let him gently place his lips over my own. He pulls away for a second before putting them back again. We connect lips one more time before we begin to kiss eachother harder. I sit up and continue to kiss him as if this was the right thing to do. Suddenly reality smashes into me and I realize what I am doing. I am making out with my best friend's boyfriend! I'm such a slut! I automatically push Stefan away and leap away from him.

"Oh my good God!" I whisper, my breathing heavy.

"What did I just do?" Stefan mumbles. "I can't believe I just did that!" I open my mouth to respond but nothing comes out. What am I supposed to say 'It's okay Stefan, it was just a kiss?' He looks over at me with apologetic eyes. "Emma I'm…" He starts taking a step towards me. I take a step back. "…I'm really sorry." I shake my head and take another step away from him. "Don't act like this Emma." He warns me with slight histeria in the back of his throat. Each step forward that he takes, I take back with a scared look on my face. "Don't do that! Stop it!" Stefan exploads. "Stop treating me like I'm some kind of monster!" He moves so fast that I don't even see him and he grabs me by the shoulders. "You're gunna stop acting scared of me right this instant!" Yeah, that's the way to get a girl to stop acting scared of you! Growl commands at her vicously and shake her slightly!

"I-I…I can't trust myself around you anymore Stefan. It's not you; it's me that I'm afraid of." I quiver out, afraid of this side of Stefan that I have never seen before.

"Don't be." Stefan says back to his calm voice. I nod my head as he leans in and kisses me on the lips softly for the last time. Only, my focus isn't on the kiss. It's on something far more important. My focus is on the person that is standing about ten feet away from us, behind the tree, watching our every move. Damon.

Stefan hugs me tight after pulling away. "Stefan, behind us." He pulls out of the hug and lays his eyes upon Damon and he gasps.

"Oh no!" He mutters. "Fuck, I'm so screwed." Damon looks pissed. He walks over to us once he sees that we've noticed him.

"Katherine," Damon greets Stefan with a slight bow. "Slut."

"Excuse me?" I snap. "I am NOT a slut! I am a virgin thank you very fucking much you bastard!" My eyes widen in shock at my own come back.

"Emma, don't make him mad." Stefan says taking a few steps inbetween Damon and I. "People who make him mad end up dead." I stare at Damon in horror. How can Stefan feel comfortable living in the same house as this guy? And just to think that I was actually attracted to this guy yesterday morning!

"Oh, stop being so melo-dramatic Stefan!" Damon laughs. "You're the one that fucked this up, not me."

"It was just a kiss." I explain taking a bold step around Stefan, to Damon.

"Emma, get back behind me. You don't understand what you're actually doing."

"If I don't show him that I trust him, then this will not end well for any of us." I look back over to Damon and take another step closer to him. "Just a kiss. A meaningless little kiss."

"It didn't look very meaningless to me." Damon scoffs.

"You like Elena, don't you?"

"Shut up!" Damon growls, much as Stefan had a few moments before we noticed him. Whatever this is, it must run in the family!

"Damon, we don't have to tell Elena about this. Please."

"I…I won't." He finally says after a few seconds of anxious waiting for his answer. "But, only just to prove to you that I have no feelings towards her."

"Fine, I agree to that." I nod my head.

"Hold up, one other condition." He says, his malicous smile returning. I feel my stomach flip at the sight of it. What is he going to make me do? "You have to come over here and give me a little of what you gave to Stefan there."

"No way Damon! Like I made very clear before, I am not a slut."

"If you only kissed me, that wouldn't make you a slut."

"Yes it would because any girl that kisses you would either have to be desprate or easy."

"Fine then, I guess that I'll just have to go tell Elena about what I just saw."

"Damon, wait!" I hold my hand up and look back at Stefan. "I'll be willing to take one for the team."

"You don't have to do this Emma." Stefan assures me almost as if he doesn't want me to.

"I know, I…" I look back over at Damon. "I want to."

"Well, of course you do sweet heart." Damon chuckles. I roll my eyes in thick annoyence as I walk right up to him. I get up on my tippy toes and try to plant one on him to get it over with. But, no. Instead Damon grabs the back of my hair and yanks me away from his face.

"Ow! Jeez Damon what's your problem?"

"When you kiss me you're going to enjoy it. You're not just going to do it to get it done."

"Well, if you want it that way than we will be standing here forever because I will never kiss you for enjoyment."

"We'll see about that." He chuckles. I roll my eyes again in irritation. Once I look back up at Damon I pause. He's staring at me with the same look Stefan gives Elena only intensify it by one-hundred. I can't help but stare at it in astoundment. I didn't think anyone would ever be able to mimick that face without meaning it but, lone behold, before my eyes here is Damon, making fun of Stefan by doing the same love struck look that he does, better, and not meaning it one bit.

Damon takes my chin and holds it in place to make sure I do not try to falter my way out of it. Not that I could if I wanted to, my entire body is numb with nerves. Damon is making me….nervous? Damon brushes his lips against mine and I feel like I just ate a sparkler and somehow it got lit in there. I have to let out a breath quickly before his kisses me again only this time I feel like some one stuck a magnet into my heart and Damon is wearing an iron suite. He pulls away to let me try to recover before going in for the hardest kiss. It would be impossible to give me enough time to recover from these kisses though.

He knows that too. A slight smirk twitches at his love struck expression. It reminds me that no matter how good a kisser Damon may be, these feelings are not real!

He comes in for the final kiss and it is so intense, it feels like I may just black out from the pure, rich, true pleasure! It's so rough and wild. It's as though someone pushed me out a plane, that was the highest in the air a plane can go, but I'm without a parachute.

As if I am a marionette, I begin to kiss him back, brushing my hands along his arms, neck, face, and chest. If he thinks he can kiss well, I'll just show him that I'm not so bad either. Damon rips away and stutters back from me a few steps. "Wow." He mutters.

"There, now you have to keep your big ass mouth shut!" I say, pretending to be uneffected by the kiss. Which is very hard by the way, but they both seem to be buying it. "Let's go Stefan." He nodds his head and leads me back to his car out by the church. I have to fight the strong urge to touch my tingling lips. What kind of kiss was that?


	5. The Worst Kind Of Birthday Present

Chapter 5

"What was that back there?" Stefan asks as soon as we are a few miles away from the site.

"I'm so sorry Stefan. I think it was just a silly moment where we didn't know what was happening until our minds caught up with us." I try to piece together exactly what had happened.

"Emma, I meant that kiss that you gave to Damon."

"What about it?"

"Don't fall for him Emma. He'll be the death of you, literally."

"What exactly is the matter with him? How did he come to be so messed up?"

"Katherine." Stefan sneers with anger obviously trying to ooze out of him. I can tell that there is more to this story than what he is trying to lead me into believing. I'm starting to get tired of this. He and Elena and Damon and everyone else have been acting strange around me ever since I have gotten here. They are most definitely hiding something. Stefan looks over at my expression as I stare at him in annoyence. "What?"

"Do you think I'm this gullible?"

"Huh?"

"Stefan, you have been keeping stuff from me ever since you introduced yourself to me. I just made out with you and I made out with Damon to make up for the fact that I madeout with you. You not only should be way more grateful because I just saved your relationship with Elena, but you should also understand that I'm not so easily driven away from people. I've known Damon for almost two days. I have learned that Damon is also a psychopath. Yet, I still seem to keep on getting in conversations with him. Stefan, you just have to trust me."

"Emma, I'd love to fill you in on all of these dark spots but, you're just going to have to trust me when I tell you that it'll be better if you just don't find out."

"Okay."

"Really?" Stefan slows the speed his car is going to glance over at me in surpirse. "You've always come off to me as the type of girl who is extremely stubborn."

"I normally am. You may not tell me Stefan, but just know that I will find out. Even if that means I have to firgure it out on my own."

"I understand that but, this mystery may be a little harder to solve than you think Sherlock Holms."

"Cute." I smirk at him as he pulls into my driveway. I get out of the car. "I may not know much for sure Stefan, but one thing that I do know for sure is that you are not human." Stefan smiles slightly as he leans over the side of his car to look me in the eye.

"You're on the right track." He mutters before driving away. I grimace at the car as he drives away from me. I DO like him but, there is still something about Damon…

"Happy Birthday Emma!" Elena cheers rushing in through my door and flinging her arms around me.

"Thanks Elena." I laugh as she pulls away and thrusts a fairly large, heavy well-wrapped box into my hands. "Where's Stefan?"

"Right outside the door." Elena says clearing her throat and turning to look at Stefan who is indeed standing right where she told me, smiling politely.

"Well, what are you waiting for Stefan?" I ask cocking an eyebrow at him. "Get your ass in here." His lips twitch into an even bigger smile and he steps in. I swear everything moved in slow motion when his foot landed on the inside the door frame.

"I was just waiting for you to say that." He says as we all head into my living room. "I have a gift for you too Emma."

"You do? I thought that you and Elena were going to go in a gift together or something. I wasn't expecting anything else."

"No, that wouldn't be very polite at all." He says as we all sit down. "So, how is everything going?"

"Not bad actually." I say smiling at Stefan. This is extremely akward, taking into consideration the fact that Stefan and I kissed and Elena doesn't even know. I swallow my nerves and we all get emerged into a very interesting conversation. It's about the strange dissapearences lately.

"Well, I don't know what kind of animal would do something like this." Elena counters on Stefan's theory that there maybe a new type of wolf that may not be used to the human race so they are attacking us in fear.

"Based upon the information that they have released I'd say that it was a vampire." I joke with a creepy smile. Stefan sits up straight and looks at me hard.

"Why would you say that? That's silly! Vampires? Haha. They don't exsist!" Stefan rambles very quickly. There is a knock at my door and I get up to answer it but my mother beats me to it.

"Hello." She says perking up. "May I help you?"

"Yes, I'm here for the party." A low voice that sounds very familiar to me soothes. Stefan and Elena share a quick nervous glance before Stefan stands up.

"We can't let her invite him in!" Elena says rushing towards my mother.

"Oh sure, come on in dear." My mother says, being her normal gracious self. I smile as Damon comes in. Yes, I am extremely pissed at him for making me kiss him yesterday but, I have to put on this act for my mother.

"Oh GOD!" Stefan whispers to Elena. "What else can go wrong?"

"Chill out guys." I say rolling my eyes. "It's not going to be that bad."

"You don't really understand…"

"Happy fifteenth Birthday Emma." Damon's voice comes from behind me.

"I'm sixteen." I giggle, trying to be nice. He smiles back at me. Everything seems actually peaceful. Then my mom walks out of the room.

"What in God damn Hell are you doing here Damon?" Stefan spits at Damon's very amused expression.

"Trying to bug you. Besides, it doesn't really matter anymore. I've been invited in." He says smirking like it's his job.

"So what?" I ask turning towards my backyard. Damon begins laughing so hard that I feel kind of dumb that I don't understand the joke. I turn back to face everyone searching their faces for an explanation.

"Are you kidding me? You make out with her Stefan and you didn't tell her that you're a vampire?" He laughs. I freeze just as Elena does.

I shout "VAMPIRE?" right as Elena yells "MAKE OUT?"

"Oops, did I let that slip? My bad…"

"We need to talk, now!" Elena says snatching Stefan's hand and dragging him towards the back door that leads to my backyard. Damon and I stand in silence for a few seconds as I let this sink in. It can't be true, can it? There is no way! I've never been the biggest vampire fan but, I was never a non-believer either. There would be days when I would look over my shoulder in a dark parking lot, not wanting to be the next meal of something. Maybe it was just instinct but, I couldn't really help it. I look over at the man who has just transformed from a sexy man to a scary monster in a matter of seconds.

"Get out of my house," I mutter, my voice shaking. Damon sighs and takes another step towards me. "NOW!"

"Emma, don't be so-"

"I SAID GET OUT!" I shrill backing up against the wall, my body following my voice and trembling like crazy. "Please stay away from me! Stay out of my house! Stay away from my family! Just…just do it!" Damon looks down the hallway, out the French glass door that leads to the back yard. Elena and Stefan are talking in very passion filled emotion. Elena looks furious and Stefan looks worried. "How can she do that? How can she…j-just go off and talk to him like he's not dangerous?" I gasp looking over at Damon, who has stepped closer to me when I looked away. I jump back in petrification.

"He's a vegetarian or something gay like that. He doesn't feed off of humans. His tastes have much more…fur…or feathers." He chuckles. I cannot believe how he can act so tranquil about this whole situation! He's acting as if I am talking to him in a casual manner.

"And what about you?" I quiver back, not being able to move any further back due to my back being against the wall. Damon's expression changes to one of a little more exasperation. "Are you a 'vegetarian'?" Damon lets out a breath of defeat and I feel as though I am going to be sick. "Y-you're not?"

"No. I'm not." He plainly admits, his hand wandering into his pocket. I struggle for breath as I look around for an escape, much like the time he locked me in his room. "Look, can I still give you my gift? It took me a lot of time to find it and I don't want this to go to waste." I nod my head slowly, scared to not do as he tells me. He sighs in slight relief and looks down at his hand to dig out whatever he has in his pocket.

I take this as a chance. This is it. I've got to go find my mom and we have got to hide. I remember her walking into the kitchen and I sprint for it. But, my mom isn't in there. I look out the window to see that she is rushing to her car. My jaw drops in shock. I whirl around to find Damon standing right there with a sticky note stuck to his hand.

"Found this." He says smiling. I tear the note off of his hand, my hand trembling as I look down at it.

Emma,

So sorry I had to leave. I just got an emergency beeper message. I'm sure you can hold down the fort while I'm gone. By the way, you're older friend that came last is very good looking ;)

-Mom

"Personally, I agree with her about me." He slurs cockily. I roll my eyes and swallow, trying to come up with a new escape plan and not coming up with one. "Now then, my gift." He holds up a small silk pouch that is tied at the top with a tiny string. I let him drop it into my hands and I just stare down at it, trying to calm myself down enough to think straightly. "Open it. It's not a ticking time bomb Emma. Just because I am a vampire doesn't mean I want to kill you, because I don't."

That reference was last used by Elena when she gave me my vervain necklace. It didn't sound as sinister when it came from her lips. Everything from Damon sounds like a threat to me now. "You don't?"

"No, if I did you'd be dead." Damon says reassuring me.

"Why should I trust you? You're a fucking Vampire!"

"Good point…" Damon laughs sounding caught in something he can't sweet talk his way out of for the first time. "I guess I'll just have to prove it to you over time."

I sigh, still scared out of my wits but, finding a tiny voice in the back of my head telling me to believe him. I slowly open the gift, pouring a tiny little trinket out into my palm. It's a silver ring with a non-translucent red stone with black speckles in it.

"It's…beautiful…" I admit, sneaking a glace up at him nervously. "Thank you?"

"You're welcome." He sighs in relief that I like the ring and looks at me hopefully. "We're cool now right?"

"NO! Get your ass out of my house and while you're out tell Stefan that he's on my probation list." As I say it, it happens. I'm suddenly alone in my kitchen. I look down at the note that Damon had picked up from its spot on the counter, but it's flipped over on its back.

You're not done with me quite yet.

Just like that, I puke all over my kitchen floor. Happy birthday to me!


	6. Getting Over It

Chapter 6

"It was so bizarre!" I say shaking my head as my mother pulls into the school parking lot. She's leaving for her business trip right after dropping me off at school. I, of course, am making up a story about what happened at my party Friday night. I can't just tell her it ended in disaster because Stefan and Damon are vampires. My mother would think I've gone off the deep end if I told her that. The last thing I need right now is a shrink.

"Sounds like he's just trying to pester you Darling." She says parking the car and looking over at me. I nod my head and stare over at the school not wanting to go into it. "You've got everything set up with Elena, right?"

"Yup, you have no reason to worry. I'll be safe and sound with her and her family. Not to mention her totally hott little brother, who just happens to be my age." I lie and throw in the stuff about her brother to really sell it. Her brother is really hott but, he's not my type. Not that I've ever really talked to him.

"Alright, I love you honey. I'll be back in a week. Bye." She smiles lovingly in my direction. I lean over to her side of the car and kiss her on the cheek. I hop out of the car and watch as she drives away. I stare after the car and almost feel like crying. I'm going to be living alone in my house for a week straight.

"You're such a liar." I hear Damon's voice in my ear. I gasp and whirl around to face him in surprise. He chuckles and leans away from my face. Why do vampires always have to sneak up on you like that? Can't they just say hi at a normal distance away from you instead of scaring the shit out of you? I force myself to stay strong this time.

"What don't you understand about stay the hell away? Not that I am trying to support your talking to me but…whatever do you mean? You don't know anything." I snap walking around him. He uses unfair advantage over myself and is in front of me again in the blink of an eye. I pout up at him with a disapproving look on my face. He laughs again and shakes his head in amusement. Does everything I do amuse him?

"You have no where to stay this week. You told your mom that you're staying at Elena's when we both know that's not true."

"So? What do you want me to do about it? She's gone. I'm just going to stay in my house alone." I try for a second time to walk around Damon. He puts his arm out, restricting my continuance of walking away from him. "I have to get to class!" He drops his hand and I stomp away from him. Things with him are such a roller coaster! One minute I hate his guts and then another….I find myself hoping for there to be some good left in him.

"Elena! Hey!" I call to her standing in front of the school doors alone. Where's Stefan? I hope she's okay. I've never seen her without him by her side. I pick up my pace and rush over to her. "Elena, are you okay?" Elena turns around and faces me with a confused look on her face. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing…sorry. I'm just a little distracted." She says in a distant voice. "What's up?"

"Nothing much, my mother just left for her business trip."

"Oh!" She says leaning away from me and tucking her hair behind her ear. "I hadn't realized that she was leaving on a business trip." She nervously swallows and seems to be waiting for my response.

"I know I'm sorry that I didn't tell you about it. I was actually wondering if I could stay at your place this week, while she's gone." I ask hopeful she tilts her head to the side in consideration. "I know its last minuet or whatever I was just wondering. Otherwise I'll have to stay in my house alone."

"Of course you can…" She trails off, looking over her shoulder at the school doors.

"Looking for Stefan?"

"Yes." She whips back around at the sound of his name. I cock an eyebrow at her before laughing. She swallows and looks me straight in the eyes. "You're wearing vervain, aren't you?"

"Yeah, let me guess you saw Damon and wanted to make sure I had it on."

"Yeah, of course. Well, look I got to go. I don't want to be late for first period." She smiles sweetly before walking towards the school. I wave to her and turn around to see Damon observing us from the other side of the parking lot. I roll my eyes and look over my shoulder to see that Elena has already entered the school because she's no where in sight.

I shrug and walk into the school doors to go find her. I check over my shoulder for Damon but he's bailed. I don't have a single clue what he was even doing here to begin with. He's too old for high school. I wonder how old he actually is…

"Hey Emma!" Caroline cheers from her locker. Leaning against the lockers next to Caroline is Bonnie, Elena, and Stefan. I sigh with relief that they are standing next to each other holding hands. I was a little worried when I saw Elena a few seconds ago. She seemed so strange. She was acting strange.

"Hey guys!" I say waving and making my way over to the lockers. "What time can I come over tonight?" I turn to Elena and watch her look at me confused. "To stay at your house for the week…" I try to remind her. She slowly shakes her head like she has no clue what I'm talking about.

"My Uncle John is staying in the guest bedroom right now. I'm sorry but, I can't house you for a week." Elena says sounding like I'm being rude. I look over at the others to see that they all look confused as well.

"But, just a few seconds ago you told me that it would be no problem." I try my hardest to not burst out into tears. I hate being looked at the way they are looking at me. So many people at my old school used to look at me like that. "Why did you tell me that if you didn't have any room?"

"You never asked me, certainly not a few seconds ago. I've been over here all morning." She lies right to my face. "Why are you telling stories?" I gasp and luckily the bell rings for homeroom. I turn and rush away from the group of them. I can't believe Elena just lied so boldly to my face like that! Not only did she do that, she made me look rude and like a liar in front of the others. I find the girl's bathroom right around the corner and slam through the doors. I whip into one of the open stalls and lock it behind me. I feel like such a baby.

"Emma, what's wrong?" I hear a voice that is extremely deep for a girl. I wipe the tears from my eyes and try to collect myself. I have to get to class anyways. "Emma, I know that's you in there. I can hear you from yards away." I ignore the voice and try to calm myself down. Suddenly, I find myself being torn from the stall. I gasp in shock as I lock eyes with Damon.

"W-w-what are you doing here Damon?"

"Making sure you're okay."

"But, this is the girl's bathroom!"

"So what? I had to make sure you were okay." Damon says with a heartfelt smile. I scrunch my eyebrows in trying to figure him out. He is like two completely different people. One minuet he's diabolical, evil, and murderous. The next he's sweet, caring, and compassionate. "What?"

"You make no sense my friend." I laugh, finally halting the tears. I walk over to the mirrors and begin fixing my make-up. "Just a few minuets ago you were bugging the hell out of me and now you're worried about why I'm crying?"

"So, what happened?"

"Nothing, it's just stupid. I'm going to get to class now. You should probably go before you cause a lockdown." I smile meekly before heading out of the bathroom and into my homeroom. As the day drags on I can't seem to get Damon out of my mind. He cared so much about me. But, why? Why would he have any reason to care so much about me? A chill rolls down my spine at the first thought that pops into my head. He probably wants to tap a vein…

I shake my head trying to push that conclusion to the back of my mind. Damon's source of food is coursing through me. He probably is just using one of his hunting methods. Just luring me into trusting him and letting him get close to me so he has an easier excess to my blood.

The lunch bell rings and I get up with a dreadful sigh. I make my way to the cafeteria with my bagged lunch. I stare at Elena and Stefan's table with a sigh. I turn out of their direction and head over to the lunch table I had gone to last week when they had made me mad. I focus hard on the table top, deep in thought.

I just cannot face them after the way they had embarrassed me this morning. I close my eyes at the feeling of my head pounding from trying to figure everything out through the confusion. "Why are you over here by yourself?" I hear Damon's voice. I look up at the spot that was unoccupied a few seconds ago. I shrug and reach for my bagged lunch. "Does this have to do with what happened this morning?" I nod my head and look distastefully at my smashed peanut butter and jelly sandwich. "Are you going to tell me what happened?"

"No." I sigh and pick at the top slice of wheat bread. I hate wheat bread. I don't know why my mother keeps packing me food that I don't like despite the multiple times I tell her I don't like it. "It's just…I really don't want to talk about it."

"I'm going to get it out of you. I hope you know that. Even if I have to torture you, I'm going to get it out of you." He slurs cockily. I look up in fear and relax when I see joking in his eyes. I stick my tongue out at him and continue to poke at my food. "No offense but that stuff looks really gross."

"Yeah…it is." I laugh, finally deciding to push my food to the center of the table. "I guess I'm going without lunch today." I smile up at Damon before looking over his shoulder at Stefan. He's sitting across the courtyard but, his eyes are locked on the both of us. I glare over at him before focusing back on Damon.

"Why don't you let me bring you to lunch somewhere that serves food that's…edible?"

"Would we be back in time for my last three classes?"

"Um…do you want me to lie?"

"No."

"Okay, then not probably not."

"I don't know then… I haven't been going to class a lot lately. I don't want to fall behind on my studies." I say glancing back at the school doors. Damon chuckles and shakes his head in disbelief.

"Come on now Emma, really? Which would you rather do? Sit around bored in study hall or chill with me in an expensive restaurant? I'm buying!" He leans in closer to me and looks up at me through his eyelashes. "Please Emma. Come with me." He tone turns dark and seductive and I have to hold in my swoon.

"Fine, whatever." I roll my eyes, pretending to not be extremely wanting to just dart out of here with him right at this very moment! Damon smiles deviously as we walk together towards the exit. I feel Stefan's eyes burning into our backs. I smile at the thought of it and continue my way towards a possible death.


	7. Damon's Influence

Chapter 7

"Let me get this straight…that painting that is hanging in your living room was painted by you?" I ask completely absorbed in our conversation. He nods his head and takes another small nibble out of the breadsticks that were pre-set on our table. "Can you do that?" Damon looks up at me with questioning eyes. "You know…eat?"

"Sure, I mean as long as I can keep a healthy amount of blood in my system. Why? Are you worried that I'm killing myself in front of you?" He chuckles in amusement. I shoot him a joking glare and watch the young female waitress walk over to our table. She looks at Damon and her face just lights right up. She starts to fiddle around with her slicked back ponytail. Then her eyes fall upon me in the chair right across from him. That is when her pace slows and her face drops in disappointment. I clear my throat and cram a huge piece of bread in my mouth to hide what I just saw. "I saw it too. Way to piss our waitress off. Someone's food is going to be spit in!" He sings to me tauntingly. I shake my head no until I hear our waitress step in front of our table.

"Welcome to Restaurant De France. May I get you guys something to drink?" She asks holding up a pen and a pad of paper.

"A glass of red wine please." Damon says scanning his menu.

"A coke." I say without thinking. I glance up to see Damon's eyes peeking up at me over the menu. They look skeptical. I can just hear him saying: A coke? Really Emma? "Did I say coke? I meant…um…the same as the gentleman here."

"And how old exactly are you Miss?" The waitress says with attitude. Oh shit! She can tell I'm underage! I swallow and frantically look at Damon for help. He nods his head at me reassuringly.

"What are you implying?" He practically shouts at her in an accusing voice. "Are you accusing me, a man well into his twenties, of being in a relationship with a woman who is not even old enough to drink?" His act, as always, is extremely convincing. I can't help but feel my skin jump at the sound of him saying that we're in a relationship. "I want to see your manager right this second!"

"Why?" She swallows nervously.

"Uh, why do you think? I'm going to give him a piece of my mind! For God sakes! If she weren't old enough to drink don't you think she'd be…Hm, I don't know, IN SCHOOL?"

"I'm so sorry sir! I-I didn't…I didn't mean to insult you." She quickly recoils her attitude. She sounds frightened at the thought of her boss hearing about this. "That was my mistake sir. There will be no need to call out my manager, I assure you! My greatest apologies! I'll bring out a whole bottle of our finest red wine, free of charge!" She scurries away, practically quivering.

"Oh my God! I can't believe you just did that!" I giggle, hiding my face with my menu. Damon takes the menu and tugs it down from my face. I look over at him in confusion.

"Don't hide your face while you're laughing. You're depriving the world of a beauty." He says with a wink. I internally kick myself as I feel my cheeks heating up to a red shade. Damon is always so charming to me. Or he has been recently. Something has to be influencing him to act this way. Damon gazes at my face in recognition of my eyes on him. I blush and look down at my menu. "What is it?"

"You're not normally this…" I trail off, lost in words. "…fun. You're normally just a pain in the ass." I joke as I decide that I cannot read this menu. It is completely in French and guess who takes Spanish instead! Damon laughs right out loud at my comment and sets his menu down in decision. "What are you getting?"

"Why, do you not know what the hell the menu says?"

"Um…no I don't." I admit sheepishly. Damon shakes his head and is on my side of the table in a nano-second. I try my hardest to not glance over at his beautiful face. I know I'm not doing a very good job of it but, I'd give myself credit for trying.

"Well, lucky for you I do know French. What do you want?" He asks looking at my face. I keep my voice as steady as possible as I tell him that I don't care. He smiles at my reaction to how his closeness is making me react. I clear my throat as he brings his chair around and sets it right next to me. Now he's just acting like this for his own amusement. I glare at him and his smile grows. "Do you want to just ditch this place after we receive our free bottle of wine? I do have to bring us all the way back to Mystic Falls."

"Don't you want to eat your food? We haven't even ordered it yet." I say as the waitress sets the bottle down on our table. She looks pissed at what I just said. Damon stares at her in innocence.

"I'm sorry Ma'am. My girlfriend isn't really feeling very well. Unfortunately we are going to have to go." He croons, petting the back of my hair lovingly. I feel his lips up to my ear. "Act sick." He mutters to me. I droop my face and try to put on my best 'I'm about to throw up' expression.

"Well, isn't that just too bad? Please do come again soon." She fakes a smile and stomps off. Damon grabs the wine bottle and before I have time to ask, we are flying towards his car. The car ride is full of absolute silence all the way home. I do notice however that where Damon stops his car, is not my house…

"Damon, this is your house. Not mine."

"For this week it is." He says opening his door and getting out. I watch him walk into the house in disbelieve. I trample out of the car and rush after to him into the house. I see a few of my suite cases that I had unpacked and put in the back of my closet. That means Damon went into my house and went through all my stuff!

"Damon!" I call into the empty room. I pick up both of my suite cases and gasp. They are empty… "DAMON!" I shout, now mad. He appears in front of my suddenly with a sadistic smile on his face. I raise my eyebrows at him like my mother used to do when she knew that I did something naughty. "Why are my suite cases here and why are they empty?"

"Well, that would be because I took them from your room, filled them, and brought them here. Then I unpacked everything for you in your room." He says smiling and taking them from my hands. "You may go and take a look. Go upstairs and turn right. Your room is the room at the end of the hallway."

"No, I'm going home Damon!"

"No, you're not."

"Yes I am! You cannot force me to stay here!"

Damon catches me by surprise when he grips both of my wrists tightly and slams me up against the wall. "I think I can!" He snarls. I gasp and am about to scream on the top of my lungs when I look into Damon's eyes. They have playfulness embedded into them. He's not actually going to hurt me. I sigh and Damon starts to laugh. I try to fight back and be upset but, I can't help but laugh too.

"You really had me going there." I laugh my body still shaking slightly, not caught up with how I feel now. Damon wraps his arms around me, still laughing. I hug him back and take a deep breath. I feel extremely safe around Damon even though I know that I shouldn't. "What should we do now?"

"You never got to eat lunch, the whole reason I pulled you out of school. Why don't we go into the kitchen and I'll cook you some food." He suggests pulling out of the hug. I nod my head and we walk into the kitchen together. "What do you want?"

"I don't care."

"Ok, Italian food it is then." He says smiling up at me. I nod my head and he begins to prepare the food. "Do you mind if I cook something that will take a while to make?" I shake my head no as he throws a towel over his shoulder.

"I didn't even know you could cook."

"Yeah, well when you've been around as long as I have, you tend to pick up a lot of different skills." He shrugs his shoulders and continues to cook more and more.

"Damon…" I ask slowly and a little scared of how he will respond. He looks up at me with questioning eyes. "I was just wondering…how did you…you know…?" He burrows in his eyebrows and leans in, not picking up what I mean. "What's the story of how you got turned into a vampire?" Damon stands up straight and the look in his eyes is one I never want to see. I see pain and sadness in his eyes. "I should have never asked…I'm sorry." I begin shaking my head. "Never mind."

"No, no. It's okay. I don't mind." Damon lies, trying to be a gentleman. "I guess you have a right to be curious." He sighs and turns to me. "The year was 1864. I was madly in love with a woman named Katherine. She turned out to be a Vampire. Stefan and I both were in love with her at the same time. Stefan tried to get the town to accept her as a vampire, exposing her in the process. Let's just say that the town didn't accept her. They rounded her up with the rest of the town's vampires and piled them all in the church. They burned them all up. When they took Katherine, Stefan and I both ran after them, trying to get her back. We were both shot in the process. Turns out, Katherine was sneaking vampire blood into me and Stefan's systems and we were turned into vampires."

"How did that turn you into a vampire? I thought that in order to be turned into a vampire, the vampire had to bite you or whatever." I say not looking at Damon's face. I stare down at the food he's concocting up. When I do look up, Damon is rolling his eyes. "Isn't that how it works?"

"No." He scoffs in amusement. "Say that I decided to turn you into a vampire." I stand up straight at the thought of it. "I'd have to make you drink my blood or any blood of a vampire for that matter. Then, I'd have to…kill you…" He pauses to watch my reaction. I swallow as my head begins to pound. "When you woke up, you'd have to drink the blood of a human, otherwise you'd die by the next day. Then, Valla! You'd be a vampire."

"Oh…" I say kind of regretting asking him that question. At least the topic is off of Damon's dead ex. Damon laughs again and I sigh in the relief in hearing him laugh again.

"Yeah, oh." Damon laughs stirring something. "This will be done soon." He states, placing a cover over the saucepan. I smile at him as we walk over to the kitchen table. "Anymore questions for me?"

"How long have you been in love with Elena for?" I boldly ask bracing myself for the consequences of asking him the wrong question.

"A few months." He admits, to my surprise. My head snaps up and I watch him. He's keeping his eyes diverted from my face. He's staring down at the woodwork of the table. "I decided it for sure after Stefan finished his first football game." I part my lips slightly, not sure of what to say.

That was the last thing I expected to come out of Damon's mouth. I had expected him to deny it and scream at me for accusing him of it for a second time. I feel a sadness wash over me for a reason that I'm upset is all too true. I'm sad because Damon's in love with Elena. Not me. All this flirting, kind acts, and sentimental talking…it's all because she isn't in love with Damon. All because she chose Stefan instead of him. I'm just the substitute.

"I…um…" I say trying to clear the lump in the back of my throat. "At least you're admitting it now." I clear my throat again with no success. "I think that…I'm going to go to my room." I nod and get up shakily from the table. "Just come and get me when the food's done, okay?"

"Yeah." Damon says, still not looking at me.

He doesn't even try to stop me when I decide to leave the room. He knows the reality of this situation. I guess I'm not as good at hiding my feelings as I thought… He knows how I feel about him. I know how he feels about Elena. I don't even know why I thought he'd forget about Elena suddenly. I may be pretty but, I'm not as pretty as Elena. Plus I'm even younger than Elena and it's already illegal for Damon to be dating her. Not that it really matters if you think about it. He's a vampire for crying out loud! If they try to arrest him he can erase their memory of the case.

I make it to the room that Damon said is my room. I race in there and slam the door behind me. I don't feel a single tear push towards my eyes. I don't know why. Normally something like this would send me into a fit of tears. But no, I just feel like lying on the bed, staring at the ceiling and thinking things over, which is exactly what I do. I flop down on the bed and stare up at the white ceiling.

That's when I notice. I jolt back into an upright position and look around the room. This is the same room that Damon had brought me into the last time I had been over at his house. Back when he was using me to piss Stefan off. If I'm not mistaken…this is Damon's room…

Why would Damon give me his bedroom to sleep in for the week? Does this mean he was going to sleep in this bed with me? Was he going to sleep on the couch? In another room perhaps? Was he even going to sleep at all? There has to be an explanation to this.

I'm ripped out of my train of thought by the light rapping on the door. "Come in." I say in a soft voice. Damon walks in, smiling weakly. He looks a little worried. "Is the food done?" He shakes his head no and takes a seat next to me on the bed. "Then why are you here?"

"I wanted to apologize for how I reacted down there." He says looking me right in the face. "I was being a coward. I couldn't even look at you. That is not the way I should be acting around a lady such as you." As the words flow from his mouth I feel as if I am talking to the guy that was a boy in 1864, not the vampire living today.

"It's fine, really. See, look." I point to my eyes with a fake smile on my face. "No tears." Damon doesn't look convinced but he lets it go and takes my hand.

"Let's go back downstairs." He says tugging me from the bedroom. I unwillingly follow him down the stairs. "The food should be almost done." When we enter the kitchen I see a bowl that wasn't there when I went upstairs. It looks like a bowl of leaves and spices. "Take a seat in the dinning room. It's right through that door there."

I do as I'm told and walk through the door I was directed. Outstretched before me is a long, huge, gorgeous, dinning room that's almost the size of the entire first story of my home. It's a banquet hall… I guess that makes sense since this is a home from 1864. I see a pretty chair and sit right in it. It's not like the rest of the chairs. This one has different decor to it.

"Alright, right here we have your and my lunch." He smiles carrying two plates with something piled on top of them both. When he looks up at where I'm sitting, he nearly drops the plates of food. "Um…" Is all he says, before continuing to me as if there is nothing wrong? Damon is a vampire. He didn't do that out of clumsiness.

"What's wrong Damon?" I ask as he sets the plate in front of me and taking the seat next to mine.

"Nothing…it's just that…that seat used to be where Katherine sat back when she stayed in the boarding house."

"Oh! I'm so sorry!" I squeal, jumping up from the chair. "I'll just sit somewhere else then."

"No, sit there. It's about time I let that go. It's just a chair after all." Damon says grabbing my wrist and pulling me back into my seat.

"Can I ask you something Damon?"

"Are the questions going to be like the ones that you asked earlier?"

"No."

"Then go ahead."

"Are we sharing a room?"

"Yes we are." He says digging into his food. "Anymore questions?"

"But, why? There are plenty of rooms in the house. Why don't you just give me my own room?"

"Because it'll be harder to protect you from a different room."

"Why do you need to protect me?"

"Hey, you've passed your question limit. Now it's my turn to ask you the questions."

"Um…okay? Hit me with your best shot."

"What brought you to Mystic Falls?"

"Well, my mom and dad got divorced when I was seven and my mother has been all work and no play ever since then. She's trying to maintain our lifestyle without a man in our lives. I've tried to get her to date but she refuses. She got a promotion in her company and we had to move here for it. No questions asked, I was packing my things and saying goodbye to all my friends and now here I am."

"Well, I'm sorry about your parents."

"I'm not." I admit without a regret of finally being able to say it out loud for the first time. Damon shoots me an interested look, telling me that I need to explain myself further. "They fell out of love. They weren't making each other happy anymore. I'm glad that they were both smart enough to get out of the relationship mutually before either one of them had the chance to hurt the other."

"You can't honestly believe that." Damon says shaking his head and taking another bite of his food. "Divorce is hard for everyone, even you."

"Next question." I shoo the topic away before he has the chance to uproot any feelings that I haven't even felt myself yet.

"Okay, since we are on the topic of love. How long have you been in love with my brother?"

"I'm not." I plainly state and am shocked at how true the words feel to me. All of this yearning and wishing that Stefan wasn't in love with Elena seems to be gone. It's been replaced… "What happened the other day at the battlefield was a mistake. Stefan and I both just got caught up in a moment. The kiss didn't mean anything." Damon's lips curve up in a smile that shows that he's done something wrong. "What?"

"Nothing, I just…" He trails off shaking his head.

"Huh?" I ask as anger begins to wash over me

"Nothing." Damon says looking away from me. I narrow my eyes at him, telling me that he's not telling the whole truth. "I'm just thinking about that kiss. I kind of wonder how far your fondness for Stefan goes…"

"Not anywhere past friendship Damon!" I defend myself, as if I need to explain myself to him. He shoots me an arched eyebrow, as if he doesn't believe me in the least.

"The way you guys were kissing tells me different."

"You're wrong Damon!" I snap, taking a deep breath. I can't lose my temper around him. I don't want to set him off too. That could be much, much more dangerous. "Things have changed since then…" Damon's eyes flare up a new expression, hope. I stare down at my food and poke at it with my fork, wanting to change the subject immediately. "What is this anyways?"

"Osso Buco, it's my favorite Italian dish. I figured I make it so you could try it." Damon says smiling sweetly up at me. I smile back and take a bite and moan happily over the exploding flavor.

"This is absolutely delicious!" I cheer taking another bite. Damon's small smile stretches and he opens the wine bottle. Before I know it there is a glass of it in front of me. "You're okay with my drinking this?"

"Why wouldn't I be?" Damon asks pouring himself a glass of it as well. "Cheers." He raises his glass up in my direction quickly and takes a big gulp of it. "Go ahead, try it. It won't kill you." I look up at his teasing eyes and grimace slightly. I pick up the glass and take a tiny swig of it. I smile as it's on my lips and I take a big sip. "Good?"

"Fantastic." I say as I finish off my first glass and Damon re-fills it for me. We sit together at the table talking over a bottle of wine and slowly my vision starts to blur and talking becomes much harder. As time goes by, glass after glass, Damon becomes more and more amused.

"You have wine on your lips still." Damon points out after I finish off the last of the wine. I blink at him a couple of times and laugh, hiccupping slightly. Damon laughs at me and grabs a napkin. "You are so drunk." He chuckles, wiping my mouth off for me. "Have you ever been drunk before?"

"Nnnnnoooopersssss!" I laugh trying to stand up without falling over. "Are you ssssure I'm drunk? Becaussse I feeeel ffffine!" I say tripping over my own two feet. Damon laughs at me again and rushes to my side, holding me up against him.

"I'm pretty sure. I'm going to guess that was the first time you've ever consumed alcohol so, you're even more drunk than the average person would be after drinking that much wine." Damon says. He opens his mouth to say more but he doesn't. He is staring up at something. I follow his gaze and spot Stefan standing in the doorway looking mortified.

"Hey Ssssstefan! How wasss ssschool?" I ask trying to mask my drunkenness without any luck.


	8. Making A Break For It

Chapter 8

"You got her drunk Damon?" Stefan yells racing over and yanking me from Damon's arms. But, Damon doesn't let go. Instead he protectively keeps a firm grip on my wrist. "I let her leave school property with you, against my better judgment, and this is what I come home to? She's just a girl Damon!"

"I'm nnnot a girrrl!" I whine, stomping my foot on the hard wood floor. "When are you goooing to realizzzz that I'm not a girrrl!" I try to fold my arms across my chest with no luck due to the fact that 1.) I am drunk off my ass right now

2.) Stefan and Damon are tugging on my arms like I'm a human tug of war rope.

"Emma, come on. I'm going to bring you to bed. You need to sleep this off." Stefan says being able to somehow yank me free of Damon's hold. "I'll be down right after to have a little talk with you!" Stefan lashes at Damon in anger. My head starts to spin as Stefan tries to lead me up the stairs. "Emma, are you okay?"

"Nnnnoooo…" I moan holding my head. "Can you carry me? I don't feel like walking." Stefan doesn't say a word back to me and before I can blink we are in Damon's room. "Thank you. I cann take thissss frrrom here!"

"No, I don't think you can." Stefan says pushing me down onto the bed with great force. I start to giggle at what I think is coming next. Stefan begins to take my pants off and I wiggle and squirm beneath him in protest.

"Thissss isss a baaad idea Sssstefan! What would Elena sssay?" I ask trying to be serious but having trouble keeping another fit of giggles down. Stefan rolls his eyes at me and pulls my jeans the rest of the way off.

"I'm not trying to sleep with you Emma. I'm only changing your clothes into something more comfortable." He says pulling a pair of pajama pants from Damon's drawer. He slips them over my hips and tells me to tie the draw string. I try to but all it does is make my head spin. Stefan does it quickly for me and tears my shirt off, leaving me in my hot pink plaid bra. He tosses me a muscle shirt that smells just like Damon and I pull it on. All of his clothes are practically falling off of me. "Now get some sleep, okay?" Stefan quickly tucks me in but, also very gently. "I'm going to go have a talk with Damon about serving alcohol to minors."

"It wasssn't Damon'ssss fault Sssstefan. It wassss mine. I know he should have sssstopped me but, don't go too hard him okay?" I lie straight to Stefan's face, hoping that it will work.

"Okay." Stefan says nodding his head. "I'll keep that in mind. Now sleep, you've been missing too much school and the second you're hangover is over you are heading straight there. You understand me?"

"Yesss Sssir!" I chirp at him. Stefan smiles down at me and kisses my forehead with a brotherly love behind it. That's just what I want from him. A love like a brother's. Not a love like Damon's. I'm not necessarily saying I'm in love with Damon either. Maybe someday down the road though. He leaves the room, softly closing the door behind him. I sigh and roll over, not wanting to lye still.

"Stefan doesn't know the proper way to get rid of drunkenness." I hear Damon's voice over my shoulder. "Well, he does but I think he doesn't want to take the chance."

"What should we do?" I ask, not looking at him. When he doesn't answer I sit up and look over at him. He's biting down into his arm. "What isss that going to-" I start when he stuffs his wrist into my mouth and holds my head to it so I won't pull away. I try to yell for him to stop but it's almost completely muffled by his arm and the pool of blood flowing into my mouth.

"Swallow it Emma!" Damon demands impatiently. I do as I'm told and with much effort the thick liquid goes down and he pulls his arm away. I start a coughing fit and look up at Damon in the clearest vision I've had in a few hours.

"What the fuck dude?" I scream jumping out of bed and punching him in the chest. Damon laughs as my fist bounces off of him. I wind up to slap him hard across the face when Damon catches my hand in mid swing.

"Stop trying to hit me." He chuckles. I slip my hand out of his stone hard grip and rub my hand. Vampires are strong! "You should be thanking me you know."

"Right, I am so thankful that you practically choked me using your blood!" I scream at him in frustration. Damon just laughs at me. "Shut up! This isn't funny you know!"

"Totally un-humorous." Damon says fighting back a smile. I find myself fighting back a smile as we stand there, staring into each other's eyes. I open my mouth to apologize for screaming at him when Stefan walks into the room.

"There you are!" Stefan cheers grabbing his arm and then taking notice to me standing there. "You look considerably better…" There is confusion in his eyes as he looks me up and down, as if the answer will be written on my shirt or something. "Damon…what did you do?"

"Oh, relax! I just slipped her some blood to sober her up." Damon rolls his eyes and casually walks out of the room like what he said was no big deal. Apparently it is. Stefan's face becomes a creamy white color and he stares at my face in shock.

"What?"

"Emma, get back into bed!" Stefan says tucking me into bed again. "I need to have a little talk with Damon right about now." Stefan is gone just as quickly as he was here. "DAMON! I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!"

I jump out of my bed at the sound of that. I tiptoe and peak my head out of the door. I see Damon and Stefan screaming in each others face. My eyes go wide and I feel a scared gasp rise in my throat as Stefan lunges at Damon. Without thinking I sprint in between the two, my back to Damon, and chest against Stefan.

"Emma?" Damon shouts angry. "What do you think you're doing? Trying to get killed?"

"No, I'm saving your ass!" I scream pushing Stefan back. He steps back from me and stares at me with a grimace on his face.

"Great! This is just so fucking perfect!" Stefan says pacing back and forth in the room. "She's fallen for you!" He looks down at the floor, deep in thought. "We have to do something and fast."

"What are you talking about?" I ask looking back at Damon. He lowers his eyes looking ashamed. I stand there completely confused. "What's so wrong with me liking him?"

"Did you know she had feelings for you?" Stefan asks around me.

"I suspected…" Damon admits sheepishly.

"What's wrong with you? You should have iced her out before it was too late!"

"You get to have Elena! Why can't I have my own human?"

Stefan looks hard at Damon, breathing heavy. He slowly calms down and looks like he may just cry. I look at them so confused it's not funny. I've never seen them act so strange. "You love her too don't you Damon?"

"Please help me Stefan. I can't hide this with out your help."

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?" I finally burst.

"It's Katherine…" Damon says in a low mumble of a voice. "She's already threatened Elena before for being with Stefan. We're worried she'll threaten you too…"

"Oh…" I gulp and look back and forth between them. "Is she in Mystic Falls?"

"No, she left a few months ago. She only talked to my uncle, you know before someone killed him…" Stefan pauses in his story long enough to grimace at Damon, who obviously must have killed him. "She told him to tell me to watch Elena's back."

"We thought it was an empty bluff because we've seen neither hair nor hide of her since." Damon says looking at me. "I'm so sorry I've gotten you involved in this…"

"What do you mean? If it was an empty threat then why are you worried?" I say turning around and staring up at Damon, trying my hardest to read past those icy blue pools that try to hide his emotions.

"What if it's not?"

"Yeah and what if the world ends in 2012?" I shoot at him sarcastically. "There are a ton of things in this world that could easily happen but might not at the same time."

"I guess you're right." He sighs looking very tired. "I just…I'm worried."

"We'll be fine, I promise." I smile turning to Stefan. "You."

"Me…" He says sounding a little nervous of what's going to come. "You need to let your brother be happy for once. Stop trying to do what you think is right for him. He knows what's good for him. He'll do what he wants. Alright?"

"Fine." He lets out in a humph, not liking this idea very much. "But, if you end up bitten or worse, it'll be on your shoulders Damon."

"I'll die before I let that happen." He says with a glimmer of hope in his eyes. "Does this mean I can keep her?"

"She's not a puppy Damon but, yes you can." Stefan chuckles beside himself at the situation that lay out before him. "I just hope we don't come to regret it."

"Emma." I hear Damon murmur in ear with a tired voice. I roll over and look at his gorgeous pale face staring back at me. I smile faintly at him, remembering what has happened today. Damon likes me more than a friend. He said so to Stefan. Just to think that a little while earlier I was almost crying because he said he loved Elena. He may not love me quite yet but, that's okay. I can handle this for right now.

"Yeah?" I whisper, not wanting Stefan to overhear us from wherever he may be in the house.

"Why were you crying in the bathroom this morning?" His eyes burn with the desire of wanting to know. He is completely serious right now, no smirk, no scowl, no amused or sarcastic curl in his voice.

"It's really stupid." I sigh, embarrassed by the entire thing. "You sure you want to know?" He nods, his eyes shimmering, his head inching closer to mine on the perfect white pillow. "Well, I saw Elena standing outside of the school and I ran up to her. She was acting really weird but I just figured that her and Stefan got in a fight or something. I asked her to stay in her house while my mother was away for the week. She said yes and walked into the school. After going to my locker I found her with Stefan and Caroline. I asked her what time to be going over to her house at tonight. She completely freaked out, saying that I had never asked to stay in her house and that I couldn't because her uncle was using up their guest bedroom. It really upset me that she would do that to me. It frustrated me more than anything."

Damon lay there, processing the information given for a moment and then his eyes got wide. "Oh my God!"

"What?"

"Tell me, was Elena wearing different clothes outside then when she was inside?"

"I didn't really take notice."

"I think we may have a problem…" Damon sat up in the bed, looking frantic. "STEFAN!"

"What's going on?" I ask, sitting up too. "Damon?" He begins to storm around the room, packing both his and my things.

"We need to get out of here, now." Stefan rushes into the room, looking extremely alarmed. "Stefan, call Elena. Tell her to start packing her things. We need to leave town now."

"Why? What's going on?" Stefan asks, already dialing in Elena's number on his phone.

"Katherine's back in town."

Stefan looks extremely alarmed, talking into the phone sounding frantic. Elena arrives at the house in less than ten minutes. She looks worried as the brothers begin to cram our stuff into the car.

"Guys! Maybe we should just stop and think a second. Isn't this what she wants? For us all to go fleeing away from her!" Elena says as we pile into Damon's sports car. I hop in the front passenger seat with Damon while Elena and Stefan sit in the back. I buckle up and we zoom out of the driveway. I watch with tears in my eyes as Mystic Falls shrinks away in the distance.

"You'll be alright Emma." I hear Damon say to me. I shift myself to face him, trying not to cry. "Why are you so upset? We are getting away. No one has gotten hurt yet."

"Yeah…I know…it's just…" I mumble glancing at Elena and Stefan staring up at us, listening to our every word. "I've moved around a lot ever since my parents split up. I just thought that…I wouldn't have to leave this place again until after I graduate. I'll be fine."

"It's alright Emma. We aren't going to judge you." Stefan says placing a hand onto my shoulder. I smile and sigh again.

"Damon, we should pull over to get gas. The light just went on." Elena says leaning over the driver's seat and pointing at the blinking red light. Damon nods and pulls off into the nearest gas station.

"I'm going to go and get a snack." I smile and walk into the gas station with a five dollar bill in my hand. I grip it tightly as I step into the air conditioned building. The cool hits my skin, causing goose bumps. I shiver and head towards the snack section. I look over all of the snacks with indifference.

I hear a jingle of a bell go off and I look over at the door. Elena walks in smiling happily. She spots me and I smile back at her with a wave. She walks right over to me with determination in her step.

"I've been look all over for you." She says sighing with relief and running her fingers through her long dark hair.

"Um…okay?" I laugh picking out a bag of sour cream and onion chips. "I was only going to be a second. I thought you heard me in the car. I said I was going to get a snack. I didn't mean to scare you or anything, I promise."

She smiles bigger and grabs my hand. "We need to go now though. Damon just finished filling the tank and we need to get moving." I follow her lead, letting go of the chips and letting them hit the ground. We rush out the door and the sudden darkness of the outside night makes me temporarily blind. Elena sprints us through the parking lot frantically. Here I thought I was nervous! Elena is even more!

Elena plops me down into the seat of the car as my vision begins to come back. The door slams and the already running car zooms off at top speed.

"EMMA!" I hear a familiar voice off in the distance. I snap my head around confused and I see Damon hopping into his car and turning it on. I gasp and look over to see Elena driving the car at an extremely quick speed. That would mean that this isn't Elena this is…

"Katherine." I say in complete fear.

"You know it Bitch." She laughs.


	9. Bloodnapped

Chapter 9

"Do you know how gullible you are? You didn't even bother to check and make sure that I was leading you to the correct vehicle." Katherine sneers. I swallow the pool on spit in my mouth. I want to just puke all over her dash board.

"What are you going to do to me?" I ask terrified. "Are you going to kill me?"

"No…not yet anyways." She says keeping her eyes on the road. "You're just a game piece right now. Nothing more nothing less." I'm a game piece? I guess that's better than being dinner.

I glance around the vehicle. There are no locks, no chains, no ropes, and no tape. There isn't anything as all to keep me contained. She doesn't need these extra weights. She has razor sharp fangs, a craving for my blood, super human speed and strength, and about five-hundred and twenty years on me. I whip back around to see Katherine staring at me. She's studying my face, my body, my hair. I shoot her a confused look and let her continue to drive in silence. "I don't understand it."

"Understand what?" I ask gulping nervously.

"Damon fell in love with you. You're not nearly of pretty as I am. His standards have dropped. At least I knew he still had taste when he fell for Elena. You…not that pretty."

I feel a boil of anger rage in my stomach, trying to burst. I clench my fists, wanting to rip out her hair. I know I'm not as pretty as her but I never found myself ugly. I've always at least thought I was pretty! Who is she to be telling me whether or not I am good looking? I feel the urge to claw her eyes out of her gorgeous skull but, decide against it. I relax my fists and ignore her mean comments.

I look behind us and Damon's car is about thirty feet behind us. Katherine, noticing the same thing sets her foot flat on the gas. I fly back in my seat, chest out and wind whipping through my hair. The top of her convertible is down and the cold night wind attacks me from all sides, making me cold. I feel a heavy blanket land on my lap. I look up curious as Katherine keeps driving as if this never happened.

"Look, you need to help me." Katherine looks from me to her rear view mirror. I snuggle into the blanket and look over at her. "If I want my plan to work, I've got to make Damon think that you are in real danger. First, we need to lose them and then we can set up a scene that they will find that will make them chase you. Grab that bottle of blood in the back seat." I reach over, doing as I'm told. "Buckle up, I'm going to do a lot of weaving."

"Wait, so let me get this straight. We are going to lose them… Then we are going to set them up to find us again?"

"Very good Human." She rolls her eyes as we begin zigzagging through the thick traffic. We fly off the road to a gas station. I hand her the bottle and she holds her hand out longer. I don't know what she wants from me. She finally just grabs my wrist and cuts it open with her nail. I wince and watch her lace my blood with the blood that is already there.

Once she's had enough, she tosses me a bandage and she struts up to the wall. I watch as she writes on the gray wall with the mixed blood. I stare in shock at what she is writing. I wrap my wrist as she smiles up at her work.

If you want your little human back, come get her. Before I get hungry again…

-Kat

"The blood is a mix of your own and cat blood." Katherine explains, opening my door. "I mixed it with your blood so that Damon will be able to pick up on the scent of it and they will believe it is yours. Let's go, I have a different car waiting for us over there." I follow her, staring at the black Mercedes that's parked a few spaces over. Katherine shoves me into the back seat and she begins to drive again. "Get some sleep. I don't know what the next few days are going to bring."

I lay in the back seat of her, most likely, stolen car trying to figure out what I'm going to do. There isn't really much I can do… If I try to escape I'm most likely going to be killed. If I don't, I'm still going to be killed… If I just do as she says maybe I can prolong my life.

"We're here human." Katherine snarls opening the car door. I sit up erect completely confused. I hadn't even realized that the car had stopped moving. I study my surroundings and just as Katherine had said, the car is still and we are in the parking lot of what looks like a very large home. I look down at my watch and it's been five hours since I was kidnapped by Katherine. I must have nodded off somewhere along the way.

"Where exactly is 'here'?" I ask as a dangerously tight grip tightens around my bicep. She doesn't answer my question as she drags me across the driveway. Pebbles and dirt grind into my knees. I try to get my footing so that I can walk but her pace is much too fast for me to do anything about it. I just let the old bitch drag me along until we hit a set of stairs. Then the wood jabs splinters into my skin. I have to purse my lips tight to keep the whimpers of pain from being released from my mouth. I'm trailed along after Katherine all through the house until we reach a long dark hallway. Finally I'm allowed to walk on my own again.

"This door right here." Katherine commands, pointing through the open doorframe. I look at her hard, noticing that the actual door is made of metal. "Get in!" She growls pushing me into the room roughly. I face plant it and Katherine slams the door shut, leaving me alone in darkness.

I manage to get up on my feet, a pounding ache in my shins. I walk aimlessly until I feel myself run into the cold metal of the door. I run my hands along the wall until I feel the contours of a light switch. I quickly flick it up, expecting the worst from my prison. The lights go up and I gasp.

This place isn't so bad. It's a one room apartment. The walls are painted white, decorated by paintings. There is a television sitting on a coffee table right in from of a black leather couch over by the living room part of the room. There is a kitchen with a fridge, pantry, stove, oven, and microwave. There is a door that leads into a complete bathroom toilet to shower. Then in the back corner of the room is a large king sized bed. The spread is white and ruffley, looking like a princess bed. Why would Katherine give me such a nice room?

You're just a game piece for now. Nothing more, nothing less. I recall her words to me on our drive down here. I guess she isn't planning on torturing me as I had once thought. She's still a self-crazed vain crazy manipulative bitch though.

I look down at my ring that Damon had given to me for my birthday. I smile and sit down on my couch. Damon will find me and he'll save me from Katherine. I know him, when it comes to love he'll do anything for it. He wouldn't abandon me here with her. I saw his car following us and I know that the last time I ever have seen Damon will not have been in Katherine's rear-view mirror.


	10. Damon's Mind

Chapter 10

**Damon's POV**

I couldn't believe the rush of emotions that rushed to the surface when I saw her with Katherine. Anger, nervousness, sadness, protectiveness, desperation, and most of all determination. There is no way I am going to let Katherine just waltz into my life and begin to tear it down again. I've worked way too hard to get to where I am now for her to just ruin it all. It seems like she always does that! Whenever I feel as though I have finally rid her from my life, she pops right back up! She's like some kind of rash or something! All I know for sure is that she took away the only thing left in my life that has not fallen to shit and I cannot let her get away with it.

"Let's go!" I shout hopping back into the car. Stefan whirls around confused as I start the car. "What are you waiting for? Get your ass in!" Stefan grabs Elena around her waist and flies into the car. I don't buckle up or anything, I just slam my foot down and zoom off as fast as I can drive. Katherine wants to play this game? FINE! I can play this game too! That evil bitch is going to pay for anything she may have done or may do to Emma. Just the thought of it makes my stomach drop out of my butt.

I can NOT even stand the thought of letting her win. Not this time. I know that by chasing Kat I'm only going to be playing right into Kat's hands but, at this point I really could care less. Emma is in grave danger! How long will it take for Kat to realize the necklace has vervain in it? How long until she discovers the powers of the ring?

The ring for her birthday isn't just any old ring. This ring is a woman's version of Alaric's ring. This means that no matter how many times Kat kills her, no matter _how _she tries to kill her, Emma will keep coming back to life. As long as that ring stays on her finger, there's hope that I can rescue her. It took me six years in the sixties to find that ring and I was certain in my decision to hand it over to Emma. I had this deep gutted feeling that I NEEDED to give it to her. I'm more than happy that I gifted it to her. If I didn't, she would most likely be dead by now.

I spot the sports car up ahead that has two people sitting in the front seat and a fray of dark hair is spluttering around the head rest. I push down a little harder on the gas and I hear Elena screech in fright from out sudden acceleration in speed. We slowly begin to creep up on the speeding car and then, Kat picks up the speed, turning into thick traffic.

"Damon!" Elena squeals, burying her face into Stefan's chest. "You're going to get me killed! Not all of us are indestructible to everything but vervain and wood!" I shoot a mean gaze over my shoulder at Elena, full of rage. How can she be _so_ selfish? Emma is stuck in the hands of Katherine Peirce! Heaven only knows what Emma has already gone through. One her terrified eyes meet mine I feel my anger recede. She's right. I have more than Emma to worry about, I have her too. The difference here is that Emma has a ring to keep her alive whenever something kills her, when all Elena has is the protection of me and Stefan yet here I am jeopardizing her. I automatically slow the speed of the car with a heavy heart and a battling mind.

"Damon?" Stefan asks in shock. I sigh an exasperated sigh, full of worry and burden. "Did you just slow down…for Elena's sake?"

"She's like family. If she dies, you'll die, and I'll be the one to carry the blame. Emma will just have to hang on and avoid getting killed at all costs."

"Thank you." Elena whispers placing a firm, comforting hand on my shoulder. "This means a lot to me Damon." Annoyance shoots through me like a wooden bullet.

"Cut the melodramatic shit Elena. This isn't an episode of _The Young and the Restless_." I roll my eyes and shove her hand off. "I'm not in love with and anymore Elena. Get over it." The cold edge to my voice causes her to recoil and I see her shoot Stefan a hurt look in the rear view mirror. The rest of the ride goes on in silence.

My eyes wander over to a gas station and I spot Kat's stole sports car. That's when the smell hits me. It's an extremely familiar scent. It's coppery, wild, and seductive. It's blood. I feel my urge rise up, the black veins sprouting around my eyes and my fangs pushing their way forward. I pull into the gas station because the blood also has a very signature perfume to it. A scent that is so unique that it has no actual name to it. The only thing I can call it is Emma. I smell Emma's blood.

"You smell that too right?" Stefan asks in a strained voice.

"Yup." My voice sounds dangerously hostile. If she has done ANYTHING to her, I swear to God…

The car screeches to a stop. Stefan and I automatically rush to the source of the delicious scent. I gape in awe at the blood on the wall of the worn down building. I see Elena rush into the store to check to see if they are inside.

You want your human, come get her. Before I get hungry…

-Kat

My heart is thudding so hard that I know that Stefan can hear it. I try to keep my bravest face on. Come on now Damon! Be a man! After almost two hundred year of experience, I'd be used to this by now. Yet here I am, on the brink of tears of anger at the woman who cursed me into this situation. I can't believe that she's hurt her already!

"Do you realize how much blood it must have taken to write this? A lot Stefan! The answer is a lot!" I'm about ready to zoom back to the car and drive off again when Stefan grabs my arm. I look over at him, consumed by my own grief. "Let go! We need to find her before Kat figures out the sick awesome mad nasty magic powers of the ring Emma is wearing! Kat will just keep killing her over and over like a live chew toy!"

"This isn't Emma's blood Damon." Stefan says and I feel my heart lift a little at his words. "It has a little of her blood mixed in it to mask the smell as her own. It would work too with the normal vampire whose first instinct is to smell the human blood. This is mixed with something else's blood, cat blood if my senses are correct." I could hug Stefan right now! Finally, some good news! I know I tease him a lot over drinking animal blood but, that's what is saving us right now! Since he diets on nothing but animal blood his system is hardwired to sniff out animal blood better than animal blood.

"She thinks she can pull the wall up over the Salvatore brothers!" I hook my arm over Stefan's neck, giving him a brotherly nuggy. "Now we just need to figure out where she is."

"I think I know the answer to that too…" Stefan mumbles, releasing himself from my headlock. "Back in 1864, remember how she loved to play games with us." Stefan explains as we walk back to the car and Elena walks out of the convenience store, shaking her head no. "Once she played one with once where she had stolen my journal and ran with it. The only thing she left was a note that said 'You want your journal back, come get it. Before I get too curious…'"

"Oh my God!" I shout. "Let's go get her! You drive." We all load ourselves into my car and Stefan drives onward into the darkness of the night. I stare hard at the clock as we go on. _2:36 am…3:48 am…4:51 am…5:33 am…6:29 am…7:47 am…_

"Damon…I'm hungry." I hear Elena mumble in my ear. I never even noticed that she was lying on me until just now. I study her and none-the-less she's draped over me, limb with her lack of sleep. "Can we please stop to get something to eat?" Her voice even hints how exhausted she is. I feel the urge to tell her no, to keep on driving because it's going to take us an hour extra than Kat to get to wherever she took Emma because SHE might _die_. Harsh words flood into my mind, screaming for me to snap at her, to tell her how selfish she's being. I've already given up our tail on them for her. Now she wants to sacrifice our extra time to go get her.

"Stefan, you heard the lady. Pull over at the next fast food or gas station." I mutter, my eyes sore from lack of blinking. I'm afraid if I close my eyes, when I open them Emma will be gone. Dead. I don't know if I can handle her death without at least telling her how I feel about her first. Plus, the guilt that I could have saved her but didn't do enough to protect her.

I should have gone into that gas station with her. I let her walk in there without any protection. If I went with her, I would have known that Katherine was in there. I could have gotten Emma out of there before Kat had the chance to nap her like she did. This is partially my fault. Actually, this is _all _my fault! If Emma never got involved with me in the first place, like Stefan had wanted and warned me to do so, Kat wouldn't have any motive to human-nap her. I'm a horrible person!

I sit in the parking lot with our car, as Stefan buys Elena a yogurt parfait for breakfast. I watch each minute pass by as they wait. Each second ticks closer to Emma's demise. The avoidable, premature ending that she does not deserve. The McDonald's workers seem to take their sweet time serving them and then I snap.

I don't remember when I jumped out of my car. I don't remember picking up speed. The first twenty miles a blur behind me as I sprint down the road. I don't know what I'm thinking because I don't even really know where I'm going. Stefan told me the address of the place we were going but I don't know where the heck we are! Are we even in the same state? We were driving a good six hours before we pulled off the road so I'm going to guess we are _far_ from Mystical Falls right now. The roads begin to look somehow familiar and I suddenly slow my pace. I do the first thing that pops into my head, I make a dead sprint for the wood off of the road. I look around and I feel my mind drift, as I'm surrounded by my memories.

_"Katherine, where are you taking me?" I laughed joyously as we ran through the wood together. My heart felt elated as Kat lead me by my hand through the dusty paths of in the bright sunlight. "My father is going to want to leave to go back home soon. This vacation has been terrific but, we need to be heading home. It is days until we will arrive home." The worry in my voice caused one of her amazing laughs to ring at my ears pleasantly._

_ "Damon, I fear you worry far too much my dear." Katherine laughed happily. I had to close my eyes for a moment and just relish in her laugh, the sound of her voice, and her smile when she's smiling at me. It's the most beautiful thing in this world. "We won't be long anyhow. I just want to leave something so that people will know we've been here."_

_ "What do you mean by that?" I couldn't help but ask, opening my eyes and looking at her with complete serenity. She smiles and pulls out from under the skirt of her dress, a small hand knife. I gasp at the sight of it. What does Kat need with a knife? Vampire or not she's still a lady. "Katherine…"_

_ "Calm down, I only want you to carve our names into the tree Darling." She rolls her eyes, presenting the knife to me and a take it gingerly from her hands. I pull it out of its small leather case. The blade is fairly dull, pleasing me that my lady isn't carrying around a very sharp knife in her bosom. _

_ I walk over to the trunk of the nearest tree, digging the blade of the knife into the bark, grinding out the dark brown. Once I finish I look over at Katherine to stare at it together. Our smiles couldn't be bigger as I handed her back her knife._

Lady Katherine + Damon Salvatore = Love 4 an Eternity

I stare up at it, still on the trunk of the tree now. It's placed a little higher up than I remember, and the bark has slightly healed over the edges of my carve-men-ship. Other than that it's exactly as I remember it. The memory that used to make me smile, now only makes me want to upchuck all over the leafy forest floor. I reach up to that piece of bark and rip it off. I crumble it in my hand, wanting to destroy the existence of it forever. No one will ever look at it again and wonder if the two lovers ever did end up together in the end because I know that they don't. I remember the terrible ending to our love story, including the good parts right before it. If I also remember everything else correctly, that tree was only a mile away from our vacation house…

My new revelation causes my blood to begin to pump faster and faster through my veins. I rush through the woods, on the path that looks the same as it had two hundred years ago. I keep moving, never stopping until I finally reach the large home. I had spent so many summers of my life here throughout my childhood, I feel myself grow sad. When did things get so fucked up? My father and I never really got along real well but, I never thought I'd be standing here nearly two hundred years later, looking at my past. Things seemed so simple back before Kat strolled her vampy ass into my life. She's the one who _always _fucks things up for me. Not this time.

I charge my way up the steps, the only things running through my mind are the images of what I might find. Am I going to walk into that room to find Emma's dead body on the floor and then Kat throwing my magic ring at my feet only to bid me a 'Nice try' and then sprint away? The thought of it makes my body jerk through the locked door even more urgently than before.

There Katherine sits, sprawled out on the couch. She stares up at me like she's irritated.

"Took you long enough!" She growls getting up and closing the distance between us. "Here I thought you'd rush to rescue your stupid human girl. I guess you don't like her as much as I thought you did…"

I can't take her anymore; I slam her up against the wall by her neck. She doesn't look the least bit hurt by this. She seems to have almost expected this reaction out of me. She laughs that my anger, which disproved her statement about Emma. "Where is she?" The malice in my voice is enough to scare any human senseless but, to Katherine this is a normal speaking tone.

"Don't get your pretty boy boxer's in a knot! Take your coat off and stay a while." She seethes as I intensify my grip on her neck. Any moment she going to snap and I'm going to be in trouble with her. She'll push me off, splash vervain in my face, or something of that nature.

I release her and I throw my coat off, tossing it over my shoulder. "There now, tell me where she is!"

Kat sneers in pleasure that she has successfully gotten me all riled up. She leads me down a flight of rickety stairs and down a hallway. The hallway exhibits just how old the house is and how it's been abandoned since the last summer my family had spent here.

"Too bad you took so long." Kat drops her tone of voice to a mush sinister one. "You may have had a better chance of saving her sorry ass. I killed her off about…an hour ago." She stops at a metal door, our family's old money safe.

"Let me in there!" I shout clawing at the metal. It would take me about ten minutes max to open this block of rusty metal unhinged if Kat weren't standing there, distracting me with her skeptical looks.

"Why would you want to go in there if she's already dead?" She laughs but still twists the big lock doors and opening it for me. The moment that the door is opened I spot Emma standing in the middle, staring at the door with alarm. I sigh, relieved for the first time that Kat is a compulsive liar.

"Damon, NO!" Emma shouts but, it's too late. I've already stepped through the door and tackled her to the ground. I'm thanking god over and over that she's okay. I ignore her squirms underneath me as I squeeze her tightly. "Damon, you don't understand what you've just done."

"What have I done?" I laugh, feeling as though nothing could make me feel better. My plan was to plant a kiss right on her but as I lift my head up to meet her eyes, I realize she's serious.

"Screwed yourself over. I may not have killed Emma," Kat says, her voice ever so maniacal. "But you will." Just like that, she slams the door. I gasp but don't feel at all alarmed. Like I said before, I can have that door clean of in under ten minutes. I'm surprised Kat would under estimate me like this.

"Why does she say that?" I ask, a strange feeling that things are not okay.

"This room is sealed like a vampire tomb. I was your bate into it." Emma says, tears filling her eyes.


	11. Bloodlust

Chapter 11

**POV of Emma **

"She was smart when she set this up." Damon says poking at the invisible shield of magic that's caging us in here. I stand a few feet back from him, examining the situation.

"You're right." I say crossing my arms in perplexity. "The door is made of durable metal, so I can't break us out of here. Then the spell is set right in front of the door so that you can't either." Damon looks over his shoulder at me looking rather surprised that I just said that. "Exactly." He says with a pleased smile twitching at his lips. Since he's trying to hold it back it comes out as more of a crooked grin.

"What are we going to do when you need to hunt again?" I ask with a nervous twitch in my stomach. Damon's smile suddenly falls at the mention of our unresolved issue. "How long are you going to be able to hold out before you lose control?" Damon turns his back on me and begins to walk over to the couch. "I know you don't want to think about it but…it's going to happen and we need to have a plan ready for when it does. I could hide in the bathroom."

"No, I'll have the door torn to shreds in a matter of seconds." Damon admits with a dreadful sigh. "The fact of the matter is, I don't know what's going to happen. Am I going to go stark mad and suck you dry? Or will be able to resist you for however long we're stuck in here."

"Damon, we both know that isn't true. You're a vampire whether you or I like it or not and that part of you is going to take over at some point. We need to be ready for when that happens." I take a few cautious steps towards the couch and slowly take a seat. "What are we going to do when that happens?" Damon stares straight ahead, not able to look my in the face. I stare at the wall across the room, just like him deep in thought. I feel Damon's comforting arm lay itself over my shoulders. I don't question its being there because it feels so right, so natural for it to be there. Damon's gaze switches targets and I feel his eyes land on my face. I try to ignore his intense stare and run my fingers through my hair in frustration. Before I can even pull my fingers all the way through my hair, Damon grabs ahold of my wrist. I gasp at the sudden touch of his hand on me and I feel my wrist tingling under his grip.

"The ring." He says as if he's on the verge of a break through. I narrow my eyes in confusion and just keep staring at his face confused. "This ring has the power to bring you back to life every time that you die! As long as you keep this ring on, you're safe!"

"You can feed off of me as much as you like, as often as you like! You won't kill me!" I shriek in pure joy of this new discovery. "Damon, this ring is the key to our survival! You and I can keep Kat fooled until Stefan and Elena can come get us help!" Damon's eyes darken a little at the pitch of my new idea. He jumps up from the couch, our small form of contact gone. I stare up at him flabbergasted that he didn't scoop me up into his arms with joy right there. "Damon?"

"I…I can't…I just would never…I don't want…" He stammers to find the words he wants to use. I stand up and rush to his side, gently placing my hand over his trembling arm. His skin feels a little colder than it normally does and he doesn't look as strong as I've seen him in the past. I try to radiate my '_tell me'_ vibe through my touch, feeling as though he knows exactly what I'm saying. "I just can't handle the thought of my teeth ripping into your flesh, draining you of your precious blood, and waiting for you to wake up to do it again."

"Damon, you've done enough to help me!" I say taking his face up in my hands, forcing him to lock his eyes with my own, "It's my turn to help you! I can tell you haven't fed in a while either. When was the last time you went hunting?"

"I can't remember, maybe a few days or so." He admits, not liking where I am trying to go with this.

"You see? You need to feed in order to stay strong and healthy. I care so much about you Damon! Please let me do this for you!" My eyes flare up in the need to help him. It's just not fair to let him go to this much trouble, only to be unrequited for it. I push my dark locks over my shoulder and present Damon my neck. The moment I do, I'm thrown onto the couch and Damon is on the other side of the room, gripping onto the kitchen counter with all of his might, making the granite table tops tremble under his strength.

"No Emma! The answer is no! You can't do that to yourself! You're a person not a blood faucet for me to turn on whenever I feel like taking a sip! I won't let you throw yourself into that position!"

Normally, I'd keep fighting for it but, the look on Damon's face proves that he isn't going to sway in the slightest. I fold my arms across my chest in annoyance that he's just won this battle. His loss really, do you really think that I wanted him to bite me? I know that it hurts really bad to be bit. Damon told me all about it the other night before we fled Mystic Falls. "Whatever." I seethe in annoyance and I turn on the television.

"Emma…" Damon whines, sounding like he doesn't really know what to say to me at this point. "You're taking this the wrong way. I'm not refusing your blood because I don't want it! Trust me, I want your blood more than any other's. My human part of me just won't let me do that to you though. Please understand!"

I try to ignore him and keep my eyes locked on the TV, not wanting to listen to his excuses anymore. I notice in my peripheral vision that Damon has sat down right next to me. He obviously doesn't like that my attention is not on him because he creeps in closer, his eyes focused on me solidly. I roll my eyes and try to push him away. Of course, it's a feeble attempt due to being a puny human girl. He whispers my name a few times, his voice low, raspy, and seductive. All that does though is piss me off even more. I'm only going to dig my stubborn heals into the dirt more. Does he really believe that I am so weak internally that I'll snap under his gaze and I'll suddenly be perfectly okay what all that's going on right now?

"Ugh!" I grunt annoyed, pushing his face back again. This time Damon seems to finally get it and he allows himself to fall back on the couch in defeat. "I'm going to go take a shower." I slam the remote down on the cushion on the other side of me.

"Wait!" Damon pleads, capturing my hand in his, which doesn't give me much of a choice. "Let me take care of your legs first." We both look down at my knees and shins that are scraped up terribly from being dragged by Katherine. They are bloody and gross looking with wood, dirt, and gravel dug into the skin. It's Stefan fault pretty much. He's the one that gave me a pair of Damon's boxers to wear, leaving my legs bare. "It was the first thing I noticed when I came in here."

"Will you able to handle it?" I ask in a sour tone. Damon gives me a _Shut the fuck up _look and forces me to take the spot next to him.

"Don't push me Emma!" He growls, doing his creepy death stare, eye thingy. "Stay here and I'll be right back!" He barks at me before he walks into the bathroom, leaving me there to pout. I forgot how dangerous Damon can be. He's a vampire, my blood's predator and here I am provoking him. Why must I have this strange desire to be right all of the time? If I don't watch my back I could get eaten. Damon comes straight back out with a small medical pack under his arm. "Why Kat is supplying us with all of this stuff, I'm not quite sure."

"She wants us both to suffer." I say as he sits down next to me. "That means, she'll see how long we can make our resources last. Gradually, I'll begin to suffer more and more. Thus, you'll suffer seeing me that way."

"You, Miss Reeves, seem to be very good at getting inside of the head of an evil compulsive bitch." Damon teases, pulling both of my legs over his lap. "Is there something about you that I don't know?" I playfully shrug my shoulders, causing a massive smirking contest between the two of us. _Damon looks extremely sexy when he looks at me like that…_ A stinging pain searing into my knee causes me to fling out of my thoughts and wriggle under Damon's grip. "I know that it hurts Em, but if we don't get this done then it will get infected."

I groan and flop down on my back, trying my best to embrace the pain without moving or yelping too much. Damon has to focus on not losing control; he can't be distracted by my squirming or worried by my pain. Maybe if I don't make a sound then he'll think that it doesn't hurt that much, even though it hurts like hell. "I'm done." Damon says in a raspy voice that sounds like he's been holding his breath.

"Oh, thank God!" I sigh, thankful that my legs aren't being carved into anymore. I sit up and look at him in dread as he bites down into his wrist. "Do I have to?" I complain in total annoyance. He doesn't say anything at all, he just crams his bloody wrist into my mouth. I sputter at the distaste of the blood. It tastes like kool-aide sugar with only enough liquid mixed into it to make it into pasty goo. "This will heal it quick enough that I won't have the temptation there." Soon the punctures in his wrist heal over and the blood stops flowing into my mouth. I'm released and I begin coughing and gagging. "Just do me a huge favor and don't get killed." He smirks down at my grimacing face.

I walk over to the bathroom door and check over my shoulder quickly before entering the white porcelain room. I swing the door shut behind me and stare at the girl in the mirror. I jump back slightly frightened. It's no wonder Katherine thought I was ugly!

The girl staring back at me has dark hair that is disheveled. Her skin is dark on the arms but her face is pale with a green tint to it. Her eyes are blood shot, are full of worry, and have dark circles underneath them. She is also dressed in Damon's clothes, which makes her look like a slutty bum. Who is this girl? Where is she from? When did I possess her body? I look like hell.

I run my fingers through my hair, attempting to make myself look at least a little less like a hobo. I pull both Damon's shirt and his boxers off before looking in the mirror again. At least my muscular, tan frame looks the same.

**Damon's POV**

As she walked into the bathroom I watched her legs as with each step her legs looking better. I sigh in relief that I was able to do that without going all psycho vamp on her. "I need a drink." I mutter, pinching my nose bridge in stress. I get up and walk over to the kitchen to check to see what kind of alcohol Katherine left for us. I look inside of every cabinet and find nothing, not even a can of cheap beer. Emma was right. Kat is trying to torture us! I settle for a glass of ginger ale. At least I can pretend it's some kind of alcoholic beverage. On my way back over to the couch something stops me and I my body get…excited.

Emma has accidentally left the door open just enough that I can see her standing there in her underwear. I suck in a massive amount of air as I try to keep walking, without any luck. My eyes are glued to her petite frame. It's the most beautiful body I've ever seen and I've seen a lot of hot bodies. I know that I should look away but, my strength has been deteriorated. That perfect body has me entranced. I feel my heart pound harder and harder as Emma's dainty fingers slid onto the lacey band of her panties. She slowly pulls them down and I gasp. Next her hands crawl up to the back of her bra. After she gets it un-clipped that is thrown to the side and I think I may just faint. She is fully naked in front of my eyes for the first time. She then steps out of my line of view and I hear the shower turn on.

I turn around, stride over to the bed, and flop down on it taking a huge sip of my soda. Guilt begins to wash over me. I watched her un-clothed body without her permission. How could I do that? I let my normal habits get in the way of what I'm trying to do here. I've been working my ass off to prove to Emma that I'm much more than just some type of psychopathic vampire. I still have a nugget of humanity left in me and whenever I'm around her I feel it fighting its way forward. I need her in my life to break free and take over me again. Yet, here I am taking advantage of her. I'm giving into my desire to be the man I'm too used to being. I can't be him anymore.

**POV of Emma**

I step out of the shower, onto the fuzzy shower matt, the fibers caressing my foot. I quickly snatch up the nearest white towel and dry myself off the best I can. I throw back on my (meaning Damon's) clothes and notice that my hair isn't completely dry yet, for drops of water are staining my (meaning Damon's) shirt. I throw the towel back over my head and rub it around, trying to get it to soak the water up. I glance up for only a second. I dart them back up after diverting them again for only a second. The door is open a few inches, just enough that I can see Damon's figure sitting on the bed. He's staring down into an empty glass. He looks so…vulnerable sitting there.

Never have I though Damon looked vulnerable and here he is, looking like at any second someone is going to take a blow at him. He looks full of sadness, like he's upset. Like he hates himself. It's a Damon that no one is supposed to see. It's the Damon that feels. The Damon that is repentant. The Damon with a heart. The Damon that is scared.

It's Damon's humanity.

I don't waver my gaze when his lifts his head to meet my eyes. The sadness overflows and then do I notice that his eyes are watery. My body is frozen as I observe him, feeling bad that I'm watching him like this. That's the final straw for him, tears streaming down his cheeks.

With trembling hands and weak knees I drop the towel and step out of the room. So many emotions rush to the surface as I took one step after another towards him. At first Damon's face looks like someone who is about to be reprimanded, then he looks confused. I step right in front of him, our knees touching and shake my head. "Go back to that first expression." I say without one ounce of joking in my voice. "The sad one."

"Why?" Damon asks in a emotionless tone, like part of him isn't here anymore. I don't respond until the look is back. He sighs mournfully before looking back down at his glass again.

"Because…" I whisper taking Damon's face in my hands. I turn it back up to face me and I embed my eyes deep into his. "It makes you human and I love you Damon." I close the space between Damon and I by softly plant a lingering kiss on his lips. He grabs the back of my head and kisses me back with all of the passion and love in him.

"I love you too." I hear him mumble against my lips and I know right away it's true. Our lips move together in a perfect tempo, a perfect rhythm, like we have become one being. I push him back so he's laying down on the bed with me on top.

He heats things up quickly, weaving his fingers through my hair and tugging at it roughly. I moan involuntarily from it, my hands running over his chest longingly. Damon produces a sexy growl in the back of his throat, his hand finding its way onto my thigh and clawing at it like a swimmer trying to catch his breath. I kiss down his jawline and work my way down his neck. As I kiss him, I work the buttons off of his black button up, revealing perfect washboard abs. I sigh is pleasure before leaning down to his shoulder and biting into it, hard enough he bleeds. He moans a long seduced moan as I watch my bloody bite mark heal itself over like magic. Damon grips onto my shoulders and throws me onto the bottom, deciding it's his turn to take control. I smile up at him as he rips his shirt off and throws it off to the side.

"Are you sure about this Emma? You don't have to…" He pauses boring his iris' into mine, searching for truth.

"No, I want to." I gasp, out of breath as his fingertips linger at the hem of my shirt. I don't think Damon has ever asked any girl if she wanted to ever. He probably just assumed he was fine. If it wasn't, he could just compel the girl to want to. Not me, I'm protected by vervain. He knows that this real. "This is something that I never want to give to anyone but you."

Damon's smile is one of a love struck teenage boy. He leans down and kisses my forehead before pulling the shirt off of me. He kisses up my neck, slow and gentle.

"Don't be scared." Damon whispers into my ear, his lips running over my lope intimately. "You're safe with me Emma. I'll be as gentle as I can be." At the sound of those words of assurance and grasp at his locks of dark hair as he works off his own boxers.

I've never felt so loved in my life.


	12. SheDevil

Ch 12

I moan a little at the realization that I am waking up from a deep slumber. I peek out of the slits that my eyes are protesting against. The clock on the bed side table glows 3:47 pm at me. I yawn and roll over not wanting to believe that what I just read is true. There is no way that I slept in that late in the afternoon. My hand lands on Damon's bare chest and my eyes shoot open, staring at his sleeping body wrapped around me.

So it was real then? I didn't just have a sex dream about Damon…it really happened…

I smile dreamily as the fog of my exhaustion begins to clear up. I slowly pull myself out of Damon's arms and get up from the bed. I look in the mirror across the room to see my body dressed in absolutely nothing. I rip my hand through my hair feeling a small smile push onto my face at the memory of last night. I walk into the bathroom and take a quick shower. When I hop out I smell something waft through the air and it smells delicious.

"Good morning." I say as I walk out of the bathroom in a towel. Damon looks up from the stove from which he's cooking eggs and bacon from. His eyes linger on my towel a little longer than need be. "I trust you slept well?"

"Very well." He says in a sly voice. "I worked very hard last night and my body needed recovery time." He jokes walking over to me, wrapping his arms around my waist and planting a gentle, lingering kiss on my lips. "How about you Emma?"

"So amazing. I don't know if I've ever slept that well in my life." I chuckle happily. "I need some real clothes Damon. I don't know how long I can stand wearing your underwear. No offense to it at all." I look up at Damon's loving gaze with a huge smile. Who would have thought that we'd be smiling so much considering the fact that we are being held captive by Damon's beautiful ex-girlfriend that is totally off her rocker. Damon nods down at me in understanding and he walks away from me, only to return with some clothes. "Wow, Katherine thinks of everything, doesn't she?"

"She's psychotic, who knows what her plans are for us." I say, dropping my towel right in front of Damon and pulling my clothes on right in the middle of the room. "You're beautiful Emma. Have I ever told you that?"

"I don't think so." I say blushing deeply from his comment.

"Well, I should have. You are the most beautiful girl in the world. The most beautiful I've ever seen in my entire life and after life." Damon says kissing me again ever so lightly. "You're beautiful." He repeats walking back over to the kitchen and pouring all the food he made into a plate. "Here's some food for you."

"What about you?" I ask taking the food and beginning to stuff my face.

"I'll be fine. I don't need human food."

"What you need is blood Damon." I say eyeing him cautiously, waiting for his response. "Why won't you just-"

"Don't finish that sentence Emma." Damon says turning his back on me and walking over to the bed, whose sheets are extremely mangled. "I can't do that to you."

"That's it; I'm going to give you my blood if I have to slice my hand open with a butcher's knife!" I jump up, abandoning my deliciously made breakfast. "Eventually you're going to mummify if you don't drink some blood. So, that's what you are going to do and you are going to do it right now!" I rush over to the utensil drawer and pull out the biggest, sharpest looking knife I can find. I pull the safety case off of it and place the blade over the palm of my hand. I'm about to press down but I feel a hand wrap protectively over my wrist. "Damon!"

"Stop it." He says in a calmer voice than I thought he'd use. "Put the knife down. You win."

"Really?" I ask looking up at him, my grip tight on the knife handle.

"I'd rather you not hurt yourself. You're right about me needing the blood too. I grow weaker every day and if Katherine tries to attack us I won't be able to fight back unless I feed." He sighs, sounding as though he's been mulling this over for a while. "Give me your hand." Damon holds his hand out, palm up waiting for me to place my hand into his. I do so, so that my palm is facing up as well. Damon looks at me deep the eyes, looking scared for me. "Let's do this on the couch so if or when you pass out you won't be in the kitchen." I follow Damon, our hands still together. We sit down on the couch and I offer him my hand upwards again. "I'm not going to lie to you Emma, this is going to hurt."

"I don't care. Just do it and get it over with already." I gulp, feeling my nerves set in. Damon nods and leans down towards my wrist.

"Are you sure about this?"

"I am, just bite me damn it!" I shout impatiently, I force myself to sound pissed so that I won't back out from this.

I feel Damon's teeth break the skin on my wrist and automatically, searing pain shoots up my arm. I'm about to scream when I feel Damon instinctively place a bracing hand over my mouth. I start to scream into his hand, barely any noise coming out at all. The feeling of blood rushing out of my wrist from the suction of his mouth starts making me feel drained of blood. My head begins to spin and I feel my eyes slowly flutter shut, unsure as to what is to come next. The last thing I feel is my head hitting a couch pillow and the feeling of Damon biting down only harder into me.

The darkness that engulfs me begins putting a good amount of pressure throughout my entire body. At first it's a nice comforting feeling and I sigh from the pain disappearing from me. The only problem is that the darkness keeps adding more and more pressure. I feel myself spinning and I can hear the sound of my own body clenching in the pain. My breathing picks up but this black abyss has no air to it. I gasp bigger and bigger gasps to receive nothing in return. Right when I feel as though my body is about to bust under the pressure my vision catches onto an annoyingly bright speck of light.

I know right away I have two choices. I can stay here and undergo this pressure until I've been flattened like a bug on a sidewalk or I can go into that light. I try to move my limps but they are heavy, like pounds of weight have been added to them. I ball my fists up and use all my strength to swing my hand up. I get my body moving barely, inching upwards to who knows what? I continue to feel more and more weight crushing my lungs like I'm a balloon. My limps fail around as I struggle to get myself up into the light. I reach out to the little ball of light and I wrap my fingers around it, gripping onto it for dear life.

The light shoots electric shocks through me that are much more painful than the force squashing me. I attempt to let go but I can't. It's like I've been fused to the burning light. I cry out in pain but no sound comes out, the only thing to be heard is the ringing silence. I feel a swish of wind around me, as if I'm being spun around and I close my eyes, no difference in setting coming at all. For a moment I know that I'm being torn inside out and I am going to die when the light evaporates from my palms, the pressure is released, and the ringing stops.

I sigh, and I can hear it. My eyes shoot open and I start gasping, trying to take away the burning in my lungs.

"Oh thank God it worked!" I hear Damon's voice and my body is suddenly surrounded by him. I don't speak, I only sit there and take in his warmth and existence. "I was so worried when I realized I'd killed you! I've been waiting hours for you to wake up!"

"Damon…" I let his name fall from my lips. "I love you." Damon kisses the top of my head and my body heats up like that ball of light that I hated so much. That ball of light was my life, my beating pulse. It hurt to take back but I took it.

"I'm sorry." Damon murmurs. "That was worse than I thought it was going to be. I was thirstier than I thought…"

"It's okay." I say smiling up at him. He just shakes his head and leans down to kiss me.

"You're too forgiving." He says in a sing song voice, with a voice that contradicts his words. He shoots me his famous smirk before inching in closer to my lips. I feel his top lip just barely graze my own when the door to our room in swung open. I gasp in shock and Damon as I freeze, our gaze on the wacko in our doorway. I almost forgot we were being held captive by her… "Katherine…why are you keeping us locked up in here?"

"That's for me to know for you to figure out." Katherine says in her smooth as silk voice that makes my skin crawl. "I'm actually here to talk to you Damon…" Katherine sneers, leaning up against the doorframe with a sickening smile. "You and I haven't really gotten to talk since 1864. How about we catch up? I've been waiting for you to find me for a while."

"Y-you wanted me to find you?" Damon asks, his eyes glazing over and a face full of pain returning to his face. "This entire time, it hasn't been just false hope? You really wanted to be with me?"

"Wanted? Damon, I still do!" Katherine says in a voice without any twist that makes it sound scary or untrue. She sounds completely sincere. She lifts her hand up to where the spell is separating herself from us. She looks as though she's debating whether or not to step through. "Damon, come out of there. Come with me, we can be together like I'd always planned."

"He would never go with you!" I yell at her full of anger and jealousy. She can't just come in here and expect Damon to up and leave me here! Damon loves ME now, she's just going to have to wrap her head around that. I look over at Damon when I don't hear him join in my back-talk. "Right Damon?" He looks from her, to me, and back to her again.

"Damon, she's just a puny little human. She just a fling that you'll have for a few weeks and then give up when things get complicated and dangerous. With me you have love, eternity, and no fear of me getting hurt." Katherine testifies with tears in her eyes. "Come with me and we can have that happily ever after that you've always dreamed of."

"I'm sorry." Damon says looking at Katherine with a shaky voice. I feel a wave of happiness wash over me. Damon chose me? My happiness is short lived because then Damon looks down at me, staring me deep in the eyes. "Emma, I'm so sorry." Damon unwraps himself from me and rushes over to Katherine like she just told him she's lathered in blood. Katherine smiles full of pride.

"Drop the spell. It worked!" Katherine cheers down the hall. Suddenly, Damon rushes across where the border just was a second ago. "You have no idea how long I've waited for this!" Katherine says with joy extruding from her every pore. "I love you."

"I love you too!" Damon says whirling her into a long passionate kiss that rips my heart out.

"Damon! What the fuck?" I scream, tears of betrayal and pain streaming down my face. "I gave you my virginity and my blood! I gave you everything!"

"It obviously wasn't enough human." Katherine laughs, shutting the door. Right before the door locks behind her, I see her place her lips back on top of Damon's

I curl in a ball on the bed where not that long ago Damon told me he loved me. Now he just flung it around back to Katherine. I'm alone, in danger, and heartbroken. The devil has NOTHING on Katherine Peirce.

This is officially Hell.


	13. Another Vision

**Hey guys! So, I know I don't normally have one of these bold letter message thingies up here but, I thought one was in order for this ep. For a few reasons. 1****st**** off, I'd like to apologize if my story line is confusing people. If you're lost, message me privately and I'll try to explain what's happening to Emma. Next, sorry they are so short. I'm having writers block as to what make happen lately so that's why the first chapters are longer than the recent ones.**

**Finally, I'd like to make some shout outs to AllyLynn, GabbyLynn (do those two know each other?), and GracieClaire for reviewing EVERY SINGLE ONE OF MY EPS! WOW GUYS THANKS BE TO YOU! YOU ROCK!**

**Now onto what you're REALLY here for VVVVVVVVVV**

Ch 13

I didn't know what made less sense. The fact that it's been over a week since being left in here alone and no one has shown up to kill me or torture me do SOMETHING to me. Or the fact that a small ball of paper just magically seemed to appear on the coffee table around four o'clock yesterday. I still haven't touched it because I fear it may be a trap that will get me killed. I know what you're all thinking too. 'Emma, you're wearing a magical ring that will bring you back to life if you die!' But, that one time when I let Damon drain me of my blood hurt. Really bad.

The ball of crumpled up paper has just sat there for hours, taunting me. I swallow, wiping my tear stained face, wanting so badly to give in and just open it. I reach out for the paper when another memory of Damon pops into my head and the tears begin to fall over my cheeks again. What a UAO (Unidentified Appearing Object) has to do with Damon? I haven't a clue but what I know for sure is that I'm crying…again. That's all I've done for days is cry and grieve. I've tried everything to get him to just show up here to check what is going on with me. I've screamed on the top of my lungs, cut my hands open to draw him with the smell of my blood, and I've even thrown objects at the walls to make him think something has broken into the room and started attacking me. No one came every single time.

Food has begun to run short and I've been rationing it, hoping to make it last a little longer. Once Katherine got Damon in her clutches one more, she's stopped providing for me. No more food, no more clothes, no more toiletries. My appearance is just disgusting to look at. I haven't used soap or toothpaste in a few days because I've used it all up. I'm an emotional wreck and I look like a hobo on top of that. This woman really knows what she's doing, doesn't she?

I finally just get over it and grab the note. No apparent explosion or attack seems to commence from this. I sigh in relief and unravel the sheet of paper, a pit forming in my tummy. I stare down at the words, my heart rate increasing much more rapid. I read the words over a few extra times to make sure I've read them correctly.

We know where you are. We're coming to save you. Just hang on a little longer. Once we have a plan, we'll send you another note telling you what to do.

~Stefan, Elena, and Bonnie

I may be able to get out of this alive! I won't starve to death! I smile and hide the note in my back pocket. Unfortunately, they don't know that taking on Katherine now includes Damon as well. My heart throbs a little from thinking about him yet again. I wonder what it was that made Damon just decide to up and leave me, not really seeming to remember me at all. I mean, I know they were in love but Damon assured me so many times that he was over Katherine. Did he lie to me? Maybe it's just one thing to SAY that you're over someone and then to get in front of that person and still have those feelings.

I sigh, shaking my head at how dumb I was to think that Damon would ever choose me over that goddess-like vamp. She was his first love and he's spent most of his life trying to find her. What was I thinking? Sleeping with him! How could I have acted so stupidly? When I get out of here, I'm going to avoid seeing Damon at all costs! When I get out of here, will I even ever see Damon? He's with Katherine now so will he just take off, never to be seen again? Why do I care?

'You do care Emma, that's your problem.' I remind myself those few words. I hate how true they are. What's worse is that if Damon just walked in and asked me to take him back, I wouldn't think twice about saying yes. I would run into his arms and cry tears of joy. I can't believe how pathetic I am! When did I become some Bella Swan? I hate that character. I sit down on the couch, pulling the note back out of my pocket and clutching it to my chest. It's my new hope of survival. I can't let it go. Not ever.

I feel myself space out and I get lost in my own imagination.

Suddenly, I'm in a different room. It's a very nice one, very similar to the one that I am staying in but it's only a bedroom. Lying on the bed is Katherine in her lacey black bra and skimpy little black thong. I gasp internally, in complete and total shock. How did I get in here? Katherine acts as if I'm not right there, as if she can't see me as she sips from a glass of blood in her hand. Damon enters from the master bathroom that is conjoined to the big bedroom. I bask in the beauty of his lack of a shirt. Once he is on the bed with Katherine I cringe. They obviously had slept together. The thought of it makes me want to go cry in a corner. Oh wait, I've done that already.

"Katherine…can I please just…" Damon starts, looking over at the door with longing eyes. "Can I just…check up on her? It's been a week and I'm curious about how she's doing. I've heard noises…it's beginning to worry me. Screams…she's screamed a lot…now it's suddenly silent…what if she's…she's…" Damon's voice chokes up and I my heart begins pounding. Am I dreaming? Damon still cares about me?

"Damon, no!" Katherine shouts, her voice a little desperate. "You can't go back in there; if she's dead then we leave the body." Damon cringes back from her harsh words and he runs his fingers through his hair, his face mirroring someone deep in thought. "Why don't you drink some blood? You look thirsty." Damon smiles a small, fake looking smile, a frown still in his eyes. He reaches over for Katherine's glass of blood in her hand and she pulls it out of his reach. "Not my glass!" She snaps frantically and she gulps the rest of it down in one long swig. "Let me pour you some." She smiles weakly and rushes over to a bottle that has a little bit of a deep red liquid left in it. "We're almost out of it. I'll have to send my witch out to get some more."

"Why are you sending your witch out to get it?" Damon asks, his voice getting full of suspicion. "Why don't we just go hunting?"

"If we leave the house, Emma might escape. Then she'll expose us and we'll be killed. No thanks." Katherine says turning her back on Damon. The look on her face looks like her fibbing face. There is something going on with this. Why is she making him drink THAT specific blood? Why wouldn't she let him take a sip of her own glass? Damon doesn't look convinced either as Katherine hands Damon the glass. "Here you go."

I notice her eyes sparkle with mischief as Damon swallows down the thick liquid. "Thanks babe." Damon smiles, a love struck look suddenly hitting his face. "You were right, I needed that." He kisses Katherine passionately, the mood of their exchange changing out of nowhere. "God, you're so sexy." He murmurs and my jaw drops. It all makes sense now.

My vision comes back to where I am. I'm back to sitting in my room, what feels like a prison cell now. That's the second time something like this has happened to me… I don't seem to understand how I could have possibly just seen what I just did, but I did.

Katherine has her little witch minion spike the blood that Damon's drinking with some kind of potion or spell or something that keeps him in love with her. Whenever it begins to wear off, she just suggests that he drink some more. How it got into his system in the first place doesn't make much sense however. He wasn't drinking blood at all when he was with me, besides my own.

Then it suddenly all clicks. Katherine supplied me with food that was laced with the love spell. I ate it, thus putting it into my blood. Damon fed off of me, causing him to ingest the spell. Right after he'd fed off of me, Katherine shows up. Damon suddenly is in love with her again. He leaves the room and goes off with her. She suddenly cuts me off from food. That bitch.

My life was normal before I moved to this town and look at me now! This situation I'm in is like something on a television show! I'm doing things that are deemed impossible by most intelligent scientists and doctors out there. What is happening to me? I don't know what's become of my life or if this even really is my life anymore. Am I dreaming? Is this entire experience nothing more but a crazy long, over dramatic dream? If so, wouldn't I have woken up around the parts where I was in severe pain? Don't they say that if you start to feel pain, you automatically wake up from your dream? I don't know! I'm just SO comnfused.

I hold my throbbing head, trying to stop myself from bursting into tears for the billionth time since Damon left me here. I guess he was forced really but…the fact still remains that he left me in here to rot. When I peak up out of my fingers I spot another crumpled ball. I gasp and snatch it up quickly, reading it over without a moment's hesitation.

Alright Emma, we're almost there. Here's the plan…

My eyes scan over the words that are scrawled out in Elena's handwriting. I smile a little to myself and crumple the note up into a ball and run over to the fireplace. I've had a fire going for a little over twenty minutes now and I toss the note into the fire with a smug grin on my face. Step one of my instructions, complete. I race over to the door to commence phase two. I bang on the doors, begging in a desperate voice to let me out. If I can lure them into this room, I'll have done everything that is needed of me.

"That's it; we are going to finish this girl off once and for good. For Christ sakes! We were in the middle of something!" I hear Katherine's sour apple voice screech, sounding completely pissed off. I smile to myself, sprinting to the furthest point from the door and hiding from them as the door swings open to reveal Katherine and Damon standing side by side. I swallow as I watch them step into my room, looking around for me. I crouch down behind a small stand, hoping to buy Stefan and Bonnie some time.

"Emma, we can see you." I hear Damon's voice only a few feet from where I am standing. I gulp and look over at his feet, inches from my face. "Get up you idiot." I feel him drag me up by my arm and take a good look at me, dangling there. I watch as Damon eyes me, taking in my every feature. I look down in embarrassment because I look a mess. Damon should never have to see me looking like this. Not ever. I sneak a quick look into his gaze and I see sadness painted over his features.

"What are you waiting for you fool! Kill her!" Katherine growls, looking furious. I gasp and look up into Damon's stone cold face, trying to break through and find the Damon I know. The Damon that isn't under some spell. "She's a liability and I'm getting sick of her holding us back. Snap her neck and let's be done with it already."

"Please Damon, don't do this." I whisper, trying to speak through my fear mixed with heartache. Damon stares at me, looking self-conflicted. He opens his mouth to say something, the grip on my elbow becoming a little less tight. Katherine zooms over and shoves me out of Damon's grip which sends me flying back and I bash my head on the foot of the bed. I cry out in the searing pain that throbs on the back of my head. I reach up and touch where the pain in the worst and I feel a wetness make contact with me hand. I'm bleeding.

Katherine doesn't seem to care because she picks me up off the ground and chucks me into the glass coffee table, shattering it to pieces all around me. Glass embeds itself into my skin as it showers down all around me. I feel my vision fuzz in and out as Katherine picks me up by my shirt once more. I feel my body go limp in her hands, on the brink of slipping away. Katherine looks down at me and then looks over at Damon. "Let's say bye bye Human."

As I'm hurled through the air, towards the fire place I hear a voice that sounds a lot like Damon's scream "NOOOOO!"

I barely feel my body by the time I hit the stone of the mantle. I flop on the ground and I feel a few embers cascade off of the logs and onto my back, causing me to scream out in the terrible pain. I quickly roll over to make them cool down. I roll into a ball and start balling my eyes out from the pain. Just breathing causes a jabbing pain in my ribs. A stiletto heel collides with my head and I whimper in pain, feeling myself slipping.

"Let's not let such a tasty little thing go to waste Damon." A voice far off echoes, "Come on, let's feed. I'm starving." I feel a pair of fangs dig into my arm and I don't bother making a sound. After a few moments of this, another set of teeth break the skin on my shoulder. I just lay there, my body refusing to put up a fight anymore.

Then it all finally fuzzes out.


	14. The Destruction of Me

The first thing I begin to feel again is the back on my head. It's throbbing but it doesn't hurt nearly as bad as it had when I passed out. Next I can feel my hands and feet and I wiggle them around a few times to make sure I've got full mobility of them again. I sigh in relief that I'm not paralyzed or anything due to the way that Katherine was throwing me around. The next thing I feel is what stumps me the most. Wind. A fierce yet warm wind is skipping over my cheeks and whipping my hair around slightly. I drag open my eyes, wondering what I may find.

"Emma?" A familiar voice coos as I try to gain focus in my vision. Feel myself smile as I realize to whom the voice belongs. I knew he'd be able to break through it if I let Katherine chew me up to do so. "Are you alright?" His face fuzzes into a clear picture and there he is, in all his handsome glory.

"I've been bumped around a little bit but the ring will have me back into full recovery by the time we get home." I say in a weaker voice than I initially expected. "Thank you for saving me Stefan." I say to the man who was the first thing I saw when I opened my eyes. "I don't know what would have happened if you hadn't gotten there in time and the ring revived me with her still there."

"You'd have been killed." Stefan admits petting my hair lovingly. "It doesn't matter though because we got there right after you blacked out. Katherine fled the moment we showed up…" He looks down at me with more news running through his head that he isn't telling me. "You gave us quite the scare with how you looked though. You were pale and lifeless. I swear my heart never pounded so hard in my life."

"Hey!" Elena protests whirling around in the front passenger seat and glaring back at Stefan. "What about all the times I got hurt Mister?" She teases with a joking frown.

"Well, you're just given." I say, saving Stefan's butt for himself. "He just assumed we all knew besides you." I smile and look around at my surroundings. I'm laid across the entire back seat with my head resting on Stefan's warm lap. In the passenger seat I spot Elena staring off into the plains that we are driving passed. I can't really see the driver all of too well due to his or her height. "Who's driving?"

"I am." I hear Bonnie's voice as we make eye contact into the rear view mirror. "Hi Emma." She says with a sweet, kind smile. Bonnie and I have never really been all that close because she hates Damon and I love him. None-the-less I find myself smiling back. That's when I notice the missing presence of a certain person.

"Where's Damon?" I finally ask the question they've been dreading. It gets so silent that I can hear the low buzzing of the radio that no one was really listening to. Stefan helps me sit up and we move into more of a position where I'm cradled in his arms like a baby.

"Look…when we found you…Katherine and Damon were…they were feeding off of you…savagely. They weren't treating you like a true human being, only a piece of meat that they could devour. Katherine fled and then we had to rip Damon off of you…" Stefan starts telling the story, wincing at the memory of it.

"I had to use my vampire torture spell to hold Damon off while Stefan got you out to the car." Bonnie explains, her eyes traveling from the mirror and the road. "Once I was able to get him under control again he was really broken up. He started to bawl his eyes out right in front of me. He dropped right to his knees and cried. That was a sight I never thought I'd see. I could sense a spell cast over him so I lifted it for him." She paused to look over at Elena briefly, only long enough for her to say to her: "Don't say I don't love you."

"Okay… so where is he then?" I ask, looking up into Stefan's eyes, knowing that he won't lie to me. "Just tell me, I can handle it. I'm a lot stronger than I look, trust me." Stefan sighs and rubs the back of his neck in indecision.

"He's left Emma." Stefan finally says after a long silence. I feel a gasp rise in my throat out of surprise more than heartache. I've lost him already, it's not like I'm losing him again. Just the hope that we could ever be together again. "He couldn't handle what he did to you so he's gone off into the woods to mull it over and try to forgive himself. He feels like it's all his fault that you were ever kidnapped in the first place so he's going to keep his distance to keep from hurting you. I don't think he's coming back to Mystic Falls Emma…"

"I can understand that." I say nodding my head, not a single tear pushing at my eyes. "He did hurt me and it was his fault I was kidnapped. If leaving me here with you guys to look after me is what he thinks is best than I won't question him. It wouldn't have worked out between us after what he did to me anyways." I pull myself out of Stefan's grip and inch over to the other side of the car, cradling myself into a tight ball. "He proved Katherine right." I mumble to myself, watching the southern sun start to dip down below the horizon of the yellow plains.

"What?" Elena asks peaking over her seat at me, glancing at Stefan quickly.

"Katherine told Damon that I wasn't as meaningful to him as he was trying to lead everyone on to believe. That I was nothing more than a fling. I'm only a puny little human which could never compare to their love. I thought it was all a bunch of bull shit until Damon ditched me for her. She was right and I was wrong." I explain in a mono-tone, not really wanting to talk anymore. "It's not important. I'll get over it eventually."

Silence follows my explination and I can feel them all looking at each other with worried glances. I know they think I'm taking this entirely too well but, I've prepared myself for this. I didn't exactly expect for me to wake up to find Damon right there and ready to take me back with open arms. I couldn't just take him back without any remorse. I can't just forget what he did to me and act as if nothing has changed, because a lot has changed.

I'm not a virgin anymore

I've been exposed to another half of our world that I believed was all fairy tales

I've become stronger through a captive situation

I've been tortured

I've been left alone for over a week straight without any other human contact

I've been bit by a vampire

I've died…_twice_

I've fallen in Love

I've had my heart torn open.

If you were to tell me that all this was going to happen to me when I moved to mystic falls I would have called you insane. Only a few months ago, none of this existed. I was just an average teenager whose biggest issue was what I'd wear to school the next day or if I'd heard the latest gossip. Now I've been through a crisis where I've had to worry about when I was going to be killed and how long it'd be until help came. I'm going to be in so much trouble when I get home and my mother gets a hold of me.

"Don't worry, Damon and Stefan left a note before we left at you house. Telling your mom that we went on a camping trip and would be back in a few days." Bonnie says, almost as if she read my mind. "I know it's been longer than a few days but a quick compulsion from Stefan will fix that."

"That's good news." I laugh halfheartedly. It may be a little while before I can laugh and truly feel happy when doing so. "How long until we are home by the way?"

"Maybe like…fifteen minutes." Bonnie says looking at her speed dial and then the road.

"Don't worry Emma. Once we get back home, your life will turn right back to normal. No more compulsion, no more vampires out to eat you, no more witches casting spells on you, and no more secrets." Stefan assures me, examining my body language with pain-filled eyes. I could almost hear him screaming 'I can't believe we did this! You were a perfectly innocent girl that could have lived a happy life, ignorant to the dangers lurking in the shadows!'

"I don't know if it can be." I admit, un-folding myself and turning to the rest of the car. "Remember when we were in the old church Stefan?" I pause and wait for him to nod back at me. "Remember how I was able look into your past?" Another nod with a perk up from Bonnie in her seat. "Well…it happened to me again. Today, right before you sent me the note with my instructions on it. I was able to see Damon and Katherine in a different room of the house. I was able to watch their conversations, as if I was there with them. But, they couldn't see me."

"Really?" Elena gapes in shock. "Does this mean she's a witch?"

"No." Bonnie says shaking her head in amazement. "When you're a witch you'll know it right away as an instinct. Once I hit my powers, something inside of me just told me that I was a witch."

"What could this be then?" I ask turning to Stefan for an answer.

"I think…it seems impossible but…I've only ever met three of them in my life time…" Stefan mutters to himself, trying to decide what it is that I am. "Emma…I think you might be…call me crazy but…a psychic. A real one, not the ones that people pay money to go to. People like you like to keep their abilities on the down low."

"It would make sense." Bonnie nods. "I mean she has all the signs of it. Psychics are generally attracted to the supernatural which may be why you connected with us so easily. I know this stuff because I thought I was one at first, before I started to get my powers."

"Wow…I'm a psychic guys!" I giggle, feeling happy for the first time in a few hours. They all smile and we get into a long discussion about what I should do with my new found abilities. The lottery is my most favored idea. I wouldn't mind becoming rich and forcing my mom to quit her second job so that we can live the lifestyle that we're used to living and then some.

"You're home." Bonnie sighs pulling into my driveway.

"Wow guys, I don't know how I'll ever repay you for what you've done for me!" I soothe, feeling guilty for having to put them all through all of this. "You guys all saved me life!"

"Save it girl. We're friends, it's what we do." Elena smiles, signaling Stefan to go into my house with me. "Make sure to get her good Stefan, we don't want her mom to be mad at her over this. We'd never get to see her again if we didn't."

I don't have to wait another second to see my mother because she comes hurling out of my front door and sprints across the lawn to me. I embrace her in my arms and I feel tears push at them. I never thought I'd ever be able to see this woman ever again. She means the most to me out of anything on this planet and I almost had to leave her without saying good bye. "Where have you been?" She screeches in a voice of happiness, mixed with shock, mixed with fury. "I've been worried sick about you! I almost called the cops!"

"Mrs. Reeves…" Stefan says pulling her out of hour hug and taking her by the shoulders and gazing deeply into her eyes. "Emma has just returned from a vacation with my family. You have given her permission to go on this trip. She has returned exactly when she said we'd be back and you're very happy to see her. The shell necklace you are wearing is the souvenir that she bought for you."

My mother twitches slightly and then she is back to normal, looking at us with a smiling face. "Thank you so much for taking care of my daughter Stefan." My mother gives him a big hug. "You're a fine young man and tell you parents that they are doing an excellent job with you."

"Of course Ma'am. Have a good night. I'll see you at school tomorrow, right Emma?"

"Yeah Damon of course you will." I say with a smile. Stefan pauses and looks over his shoulder and looks at me with concern. I flinch at the realization that I just called him Damon. "Sorry, I meant Stefan. I get you two mixed up so much." I laugh nervously and walk with my mom into my house.


	15. A New Adventure Awaits

**Dear Readers. Yes, I must yet again bug you with one of these stupid messages. I'm just letting you all know that this story is officially complete. This is the last chapter. If you want a sequel or anything of the sort, you must PM me asking for it. Otherwise, I will take it as you do not want another.**

Ch.15

_Two Months Later_

I sigh in contentment as the hot sun bears down and cooks my pale skin. Stefan was able to get me a job on a farm for the summer. I think he may have used his…um… "special talents" to get it for me but hey, whatever. I need this job to keep my mind busy and off of certain…topics. I've tried so hard to forget about Damon and move but, it's a lot harder than it sounds. Anyways the brutal sun, hard work, and the smell of the manure keep my mind preoccupied. Stefan got himself a job on the farm also, so that we can work on my physic abilities while we're alone in a field or something like that.

School got let out about a week ago. I barely passed but I still made it. That's all that matters really, I mean it's not like I was any good at school to start with. My grades ranged from A's down to C's…don't ask me how I managed that one because I'm still trying to figure that one out.

"Emma, will you bring this to the back manure pile to dump?" Stefan asks popping his head out of the goat barn, holding out a stainless steel bucket full to the brim with foamy white milk. I rush over to him and snatch up the milk bucket happily. The more work I can do, the better it is for me. Elena thinks that this is a bad idea. Apparently, I'm "burying my feelings in work and I will never get over it if I don't face it." I really appreciate Stefan taking my side though. Elena however, she didn't really appreciate that…

The smell of poop mixed with old hay fills my nostrils and I sneeze.

"Bless you…" A voice from the trees coos in a light whisper. I gasp and whirl around, dropping the bucket in the process. Did I just imagine that? I dart my eyes from tree to tree, searching for the source of the voice. Then I see him. For a split second I see him standing there and then he's suddenly gone. My heart jumps up into my throat and I feel like I just fell from one of the top tree branches.

"Damon…?" I whisper feeling tears push into my eyes. I slam them shut, refusing to cry. I haven't cried over him since I was taken from the vacation home. I can't let myself cry over him any longer. That just wouldn't do me any justice. I won't be that girl that just sits there crying over losing a guy. I just can't do it.

I sprint away from the scene, abandoning my quest to rid Stefan's bucket of milk. My stupid imagination is getting away with me again. Dreams, hallucinations, anything you can imagine, I've gone through it. Stefan has done a pretty fair job with dealing with me, despite the fact that I am the one the scared his brother away from him. His brother had just gotten a grip on his humanity again I am the reason for his running away. How Stefan is still so kind to me is a mystery. If I were him, I'd be so pissed at me right now.

"Emma…are you alright?" Stefan asks, turning his back on the goat that is on the milking stand. "You're so pale, it's almost as if you've seen a ghost or something. Have you seen a ghost?" He reaches over and places a comforting arm over my shoulders protectively.

"No…I don't think so anyways…" I set the bucket on the wooden barn floor and sigh. "Are you busy? I need another lesson right now. I need another distraction." Stefan's eyes narrow at me in suspicion but he slowly nods to me anyways, putting the goat back into the pasture. We look around to make sure no one is looking and then we sneak our way into the back field. This is where I've been going with Stefan to get a hold on my powers. It's a fairly larger field with tall grass has grown wildly up to my shins. The grass tickles at my shins as we walk towards the middle on it together. The lush strands of grass haven't been touched in years because the farmer doesn't want to plow ALL of his land for one reason or another. When I asked him he only got into it a little bit before I zoned out.

"Okay Emma, what do you want to try today?" Stefan asks plopping down onto a patch of soft fluffy grass. I look around me, trying to find something I could levitate or something of the sort. "Levitation huh?"

"I was thinking maybe but…what if we do something else…"

I look over my shoulder at Stefan, wondering if he's catching on to what I'm talking about. Stefan's smile relaxes and slowly turns into a frown. He knows what I'm talking about. He hates it but, he knows that it's a skill I've got to try to master. He shakes his head no. I nod my head yes. I know I'm going to lose this argument.

"What do you want to do then Mr. Safety-Pants?" I tease as I fold my arms across my chest. He sits there a good minute and sighs, digging out his wallet from his pocket. "Stefan, we've been working on levitation for a week now! I'm getting bored with this!"

"Too bad, you're not ready for the more powerful stuff yet Emma. You can't control your visions yet. A good psychic can control when, what, and how she sees her visions. You haven't even had a vision in two months. That is a sign that you are not ready to work on repelling a vampire's compulsion without vervain." I roll my eyes and wait for Stefan to set his wallet on the ground.

I'm tired of everyone trying to "train" me but whenever I try to get them to let me do anything productive they tell me "I'm not ready." I'll never be ready if they don't let me try! I stare hard at the wallet as annoyance fills my body. The wallet flings up high into the air, its contents splaying out around it in the air. Stefan cheers proud of me as he watches to see how long I can hold this for. I've never thrown anything this high in the air, with this many objects, with that quick of a reaction time. My eyes begin to droop and I gasp in fear that I'm pushing myself too far. I try to force myself past it, as I have in the past. My body seems to have a different plan for me because it slams them shut and I feel myself fall onto the ground.

"EMMA!" Stefan's voice cries out but, his voice fades fast as the scenery around me changes.

There are trees everywhere; the sun has disappeared from the sky, leaving it into a dark night. I whirl around in circles, confused to no end. I'm having a vision? This is strange and much different from visions that I've had in the past. There are only two people in this vision and it doesn't look like this is an actual event. It looks as if this vision has been set up or something. None of this stuff is what is perplexing me the most. What really is getting me is the person who is standing ten feet from me with a tall handsome blonde man next to her.

"Katherine…what is going on?" I ask as I look around me frantic for a way out of this.

"Calm down human…or I guess not-so-human. This is my friend Benjamin, he's a psychic too. Psychics that have been in practice for a long time have the ability to communicate with other psychics by sending them a vision in which both halves of it can communicate." Katherine says gripping onto Ben's arm, giving him a loving smile. "He's also my latest boyfriend."

"Don't forget your hottest." He slurs in a deeper voice than I would expect. Katherine smiles at me shortly before drawing Ben in for a long kiss. I clear my throat to remind them that I'm still here. They break away and look at me funny, as if I'm the one that's acting strange.

"Did you call me here so that you can make out in front of me or do you have an actual purpose?"

"It's Damon…" Katherine says with a sigh, her eyes becoming sad. "He's in danger."

"What?" All the sensation in my legs begins to disappear and for a moment I swear I'm going to fall over. "How? Why? He's a vampire…"

"Vampires aren't indestructible dummy." Ben says rolling his eyes. "He's being hunted."

"By who?"

"A group of vampire hunters and trust me, these people are better at it than those poor fools from mystic falls that are practically clueless." Katherine sneers, looking ticked off. "They nearly captured me when Damon and I ran into each other in Dallas, Texas. We talked for a little bit and then they found us. We had to spilt up and do whatever we could to stay alive. Damon, being the hero that he likes to pretend he is, distracted them by attacking their most respected member of their little troop and made a break for it, with them on his trail. They are after him now and I think it may only be a matter of time before they catch him."

"Why should I believe you?" I ask, wanting to find any excuse to believe that this is all a lie. However, there is this little pit in the very bottom of my stomach that is telling me that she's not lying. "I mean, you locked me in a basement for a week straight just to watch me suffer!"

"This is Damon we're talking about here. I may not love him anymore and I love messing around with him but, I don't want him dead."

"You consider locking me in a basement to suffer 'messing around with him'?"

"So I have a sick sense of humor, so what? I know I have issues. This isn't the important thing right now. Don't you want to save Damon? We need to set aside our differences and team up because you wouldn't last two days out there without me. You may be a vampire's second biggest threat, right behind a werewolf, but you're new and can't do much."

"When do we leave?" I ask clenching my jaw. My blood begins to pump, a psychic air floating around me. It seems to be that my powers come to me the strongest when I get worked up.

"Tonight. Ben is going to release the vision and you need to go pack your things. Pack lightly because we're going to be hoofing it. This next part is the most important. Do not tell anyone about this. That means Stefan, Elena, Bonnie, anyone in that little mystical creatures club you got going in that high school of yours. The fewer of us there are the better."

"I promise. Meet me in the woods behind the barn at midnight."

Once the words are said, the connection is dropped and my eyes shoot open. I take in a huge breath and my eyes dart around in shock. My body feels surprisingly strong and pumped up. I jump up, to the surprise of Stefan who is sitting at my feet looking like he wants to cry.

"Emma? What happened are you okay?"

"Great, I've never felt better actually." I laugh, remembering what I need to do. "I've got to go Stefan. I'm…um…tired…" I lie through my teeth and sprint away from Stefan, hoping that he won't stop me.

"Emma!" He calls. I ignore him. I've got to pack and get out of here.

I'm going to go save Damon. I don't care what that cost may be, even if it is my life. Damon may have done some terrible things but, I won't let him die! Not as long as I'm alive to stop him. I've discovered so many amazing things. I've found a whole other world that I never knew even existed, a magical one that I've read in story books. I've found power within myself that I never knew I had. I've also found a love that I never knew could exist in real life. It's the kind you'd do crazy things over. Crazy things like team up with your arch enemy to go save your significant other half. For all I know this is a trap but, I don't care. Even if it is it won't matter. The pain will still be there one way or another. The reason why?

Love bites. 


	16. Battle Scars Preveiw

**Hey guys! Long time no see! I've decided that I am indeed going to write a sequel to "Love Bites" because I felt as though the love story was not yet complete. It's going to be titled "Battle Scars" so look out for it! Here's a short preview of it, tell me what you think :D**

Katherine is rubbing off on me.

I've determined this because this this morning we decided to check into a hotel after two days of voyaging through the forest. When we went into the main lobby Katherine and Ben were trying to figure out what they were going to do because we didn't bring any money. They were arguing about what it was that they should do, in a little group, in low voices, as if they didn't want me to hear them or something. That in itself was beginning to tick me waaaay off. But then, Ben opened his big dump mouth.

"Maybe I could offer him a 'Fortune Telling' for a room and you could compel him to say yes."

"Oh my God! You guys are so idiotic!" I snapped. I think it may have set them back a little bit too because I've been nothing but quiet and compliant ever since we left. They peered over at me with shocked expressions. "Wouldn't it be a lot easier to just compel the receptionist to give us a room?"

"Oh…" Ben said like he didn't seem to know why he didn't think of that.

"I was thinking the same human." Katherine laughed, giving me a happy smile.

"You know I'm not really considered a human anymore right?" I asked smiling back at her. There was something about that smile that seemed different…it was genuine. It was without the sickening sneer to it and I'm still trying to fathom it came from her lips.

"Yes but, I don't know…human is like my new…nick name for you."

"Why don't I have an affectionate nick name?"

"Oh, grow some balls and stop acting like a jealous girlfriend why don't you?" She wrinkled her nose at Ben before she went over to do the deed. That was last night and at that moment I realized Katherine thinks more like I do than I thought. That sends chills down my spine every moment it passes through my mind.

Now, we're busy spiffing up the room to make sure it looks like we were never here. The less of a trail we leave, the better. "Where are we going next to find him?" I ask Ben with the hopes that he's seen a vision of us being somewhere else. He shoots me an annoyed stare, his green eyes flaring with resentment. I recoil and focus back down at the bed spread. I'm assuming he hasn't seen him yet and he's not particularly happy about that. Ben is supposedly talented enough at fore-seeing that he can control when and what it is he sees. Apparently, he's having trouble with finding Damon.

"Do you suppose he's shadowed?" Kat asks as she comes out of the bathroom.

"Shadowed?" I ask in slight curiosity.

"It's when a witch casts a spell on a person so that a psychic cannot see him or her in their visions."

"It's a pain in the ass! That's what it is!" Ben grumbles, straightening the pillows for the billionth time.

"Bonnie was the last person to see him before he fled…" I gasp, wondering if she left out a piece of her story when telling me about it a few months back. It would make sense for her to do it, considering the facts. She pretty much hates Damon's undead guts. She loves me and would do anything to keep me safe. Damon wanted to run away so he could "get over" what he'd done. She knew if I had a vision of Damon, I'd try to go after him. Which would also explain why it is that I haven't had a vision since he left.

"That little bitch of a sorceress has basically screwed us over!"

"Hey! She's a great person!" I snap, feeling my defensive blood creep into my veins.

"—and a hell of a witch." Katherine adds, taking my side yet again. "All we need to do is find a way to break the spell."


End file.
